Revealed: Indonesian workers on UK farm ‘at risk of debt bondage’
Indonesian labourers picking berries on a farm that supplies Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Tesco say they have been saddled with debts of up to £5,000 by unlicensed foreign brokers to work in Britain for a single season.
Pickers at the farm in Kent were initially given zero-hours contracts, and at least one was paid less than £300 a week after the cost of using a caravan was deducted, according to payslips and other documents seen as part of a Guardian investigation.
The fees they pay to secure work include flights and visas, but multiple labourers said they also faced thousands of pounds in extra charges from Indonesian brokers who promised substantial earnings. Under UK employment law, it is illegal to charge workers fees for finding them jobs.
One worker described how he staked his family home in Bali as surety on the debt and fears losing it. “Now I’m working hard only to pay back that money,” he said. “I cannot sleep sometimes. I have a family who need my support to eat and meanwhile, I think about the debt.”
Brexit and the war in Ukraine have created chronic labour shortages in the UK agricultural sector, pushing desperate farms and recruitment agencies to look further afield than Europe, where it can be harder to track the methods local brokers use to find workers.
The revelations raise the prospect of fruit pickers being trapped in debt bondage, preventing them from leaving work without risking financial ruin. Migrant rights experts say the situation puts workers at risk of what is essentially forced labour.
The Home Office and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) are looking into the allegations, and the supermarkets have launched an urgent investigation into the issues raised by the
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