Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
Home Office ‘robbed’ half a million pounds from migrant workers

THE Home Office has “robbed” immigration detainees of half a million pounds so far this year by paying them as little as £1 an hour to cook and clean, a leading trade unionist has warned.

The low-pay figures were obtained by the Morning Star in a freedom of information request to the Home Office, as part of a campaign to expose sweated labour in detention centres. 

The government department paid detainees as little as £1 an hour  in January and February.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Lunar House in Croydon, south London which houses the headquarters of UK Visas and Immigration, a division of the Home Office
Voices of Scotland / 30 October 2025
30 October 2025

The visa system traps workers with abusive employers, creating a vulnerable workforce scared to complain for fear of deportation — that is why we’re campaigning for a ‘common sponsorship’ model instead, writes FAVOUR DAVIDKING

Campaigners gather outside the Home Office in London, calling for an end to the government’s immigration policies that endanger migrant women and entrench racial injustice, October 15, 2025
Human Rights / 16 October 2025
16 October 2025
gray
Exhibition review / 8 July 2025
8 July 2025

BLANE SAVAGE recommends the display of nine previously unseen works by the Glaswegian artist, novelist and playwright

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves arrives to host a
Editorial: / 30 March 2025
30 March 2025