What can be done about nanny exploitation?

[merrymonsters]

I heard today that a family at school is paying their nanny (from a non-European country) only £250 per month live in. They claim that they are sorting out a visa for her, but she has no idea if they're telling the truth. They are also becoming more and more demanding of her and adding to her workload all the time. She is feeling trapped and they tell her she could be deported (actually she probably could be). Another nanny at school has befriended her and has offered to go with her to Citizens' Advice, but she's reluctant to go. We live in a pretty affluent area of London, so these people are unlikely to be poor.

Is there anything that can be done about this situation? I don't know the nanny or the parents myself, but have heard this from her nanny friend, who wants to help her.

www.migranthelpline.org.uk I'm not sure if these can help, they should be able to point her in the right direction though if they can't.

Thanks belledechoocchipcookie. I'll pass their phone number to the friend.

UKBA could stop more people at the entry points I suppose. If someone says they are visiting the country on holiday, how can UKBA prove they are not?

More checks on employers? Problem though, the parents probably won't have registered as an employer.

www.kalayaan.org.uk helps domestic workers - so perhaps the nanny could contact them for advice. Though not sure who they can and can't help.

Firstly the nanny in question needs to be prepared to help herself.

Her employers sound terrible but employers only treat nannies how the nannys themselves allow themselves to be treated.
Must be harder in another country, but luckily some people before me have given links to useful sites

Is she actually a nanny or do the family consider her to be more like an au-pair? i think £70 per week is the lower end of normal au pair wages, so ok they arnt even paying that, but not that far off either. (of course only 25 hours should be expected from an 'au pair' type person. (Not sure if au pairs (technically) exist anymore?)

Only Romanian and Bulgarian nationals, nannyl.

I agree that nanny needs to be prepared to step up and help herself because hearsay is all very well but it doesn't get anything done. We can rant and rage as much as we like on the Internet, and frequently do, but that only has a limited impact. The wages are awfully low but if nanny wants a raise she needs to say so. If she's not happy with the duties being increased she needs to say so. If the family are dragging their heels over the visa she needs to remind them.

If I were her I would shop the employers tbh. They're the ones who cop it for not employing her properly/checking right to work/written statement or contract etc HOWEVER that would probably result in nanny losing her job and quite possibly being deported.

Which non-European country, if you can say? How did she enter the country in the first place?

I don't understand how they can get into the country without a visa. If they need a visa, why didn't they have that before they came to the UK? Why didn't immigration service stop them at the border?

Nick - a lot of nannies in this sort of situation ahve come over as tourists to 'visit family.' So probably enter the country on that basis. And then just don't go. This may not apply in this case, though.

She can go to the authorities, but it sounds like she should be prepared to be deported, which is just what she deserves if she is working here illegally.

Obviously this is exploitation, and unscrupulous employers appear to be in a position of power because they use the threat of deportation if the unsuspecting au pair/nanny/other worker does not comply with the unreasonable demands made on them.

In fact (anyone remember a couple of high profile cases recently?) it is unlawful for an employer to fail to ensure that a foreign national has a relevant work permit, and there's also the small matter of tax/national insurance deductions/declarations.

In short, the worst that can happen to an illegal worker is deportation while the employer may be called to account by the Criminal Justice system and the short & curly practitoner taxman.

Of course this is unlikely to be reassuring for the individual in question who would seem to be facing the unpalatable choice of take it or leave it (in this case 'leave it' being the UK).

The working conditions you've described are unnacceptable but it doesn't appear to fall into the category of slavery which is a clearly defined crime and one in which the victim is usually viewed sympathetically by the Dept of Immigration in respect of leave to remain in the UK.

If this particular 'nanny' rapidly learns English it's quite likely that she'll disappear into the black economy and become a nanny for a family who won't be overly worried about the legal niceties and who will treat her with consideration.