The number of foreign workers seeking help over claims of exploitation, bullying, underpayment, and poor living conditions on UK farms rose sharply in 2024, according to the BBC.
Nearly 700 seasonal agricultural labourers complained to the Worker Support Centre (WSC) charity last year about unfair treatment by employers, up from just over 400 in 2023.
One former fruit picker told the BBC more must be done to prevent migrant workers from being "treated like slaves."
Bolivian Julia Quecano Casimiro, who came to the UK on a seasonal worker visa to pick cherries for Herefordshire-based Haygrove, is taking the company to an employment tribunal over claims of unfair dismissal, discrimination, and underpayment. She now campaigns for stronger protections for seasonal farm workers.
The Home Office found "reasonable grounds" to believe she could have been a victim of modern slavery. Ms Casimiro told the BBC: "Many seasonal workers continue to have their rights violated at this very moment. If the UK government does not take action to stop what is happening, there will continue to be more victims of modern slavery."
Campaigners are calling for a review of the seasonal agricultural worker scheme.
A Haygrove spokeswoman said Ms Casimiro's complaints stemmed from a discrepancy in flight ticket costs and lower-than-expected work hours due to extreme weather. The company denied her claims, calling them "materially incorrect and misleading," adding that Haygrove "has never had accusations of this nature before" and that its practices are audited by multiple third-party bodies.
Haygrove is also cooperating with a national investigation into claims that 20 Indonesian workers were charged illegal recruitment fees abroad. "We are deeply concerned by claims that Indonesian workers were charged illegal fees by recruitment agents, which is strictly against our policy and principles," the spokeswoman said.
The WSC, which supports marginalised workers, reported a rise in complaints about the scheme in 2024. In one month last summer, it handled cases for 158 farm labourers and referred 19 cases involving 101 workers—mainly from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan—to enforcement agencies.
A Home Office spokeswoman said the government had visited 318 farms and conducted over 2,100 worker interviews, with improvements made each year to tackle exploitation. "We will always take decisive action where we believe abusive practices are taking place or the conditions of the route are not met," she added.
The National Farmers' Union said overseas workers were "invaluable" to British farms, and that most employers take "employee welfare extremely seriously," with many workers returning year after year.
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