A landmark employment tribunal has awarded an Indian citizen nearly £30,000 after his UK employer failed to provide him with a single day of work for an entire year. Shabin Shaji, 33, came to the United Kingdom under the post-Brexit visa scheme to work as a care worker, but Swan Care Solutions Ltd did not assign him any shifts despite his repeated requests.
Background of the Case
Shaji emigrated from Kerala to Stafford, England, after being led to believe there was a major shortage of healthcare workers in the UK. He purchased a car for the job and completed online training in 2023. Before arriving, he sought advice from a YouTube influencer who connected him with agents. He paid these agents £17,000 before being interviewed for a role at Swan Care Solutions via WhatsApp.
The company provided him with a certificate of sponsorship, which allowed him to live and work in the UK with Swan Care as his Home Office-approved sponsoring employer. However, the computer science graduate, who had previously worked in healthcare in India, found himself in destitution when the Staffordshire-based employer gave him no shifts. His sponsored visa restricted him from working for anyone else for more than 20 hours a week.
Legal Victory and Compensation
Shaji eventually secured sponsorship from another employer in April 2024, a year after his arrival, but returned to India in ill health. He won his pay claim with help from the employment justice charity Work Rights Centre. The tribunal ordered Swan Care Solutions to pay £28,843.54 in wages and holiday pay, plus £8,700 in costs, for failing to provide a written contract and non-compliance with grievance procedures.
Charity's Response
Dora-Olivia Vicol, chief executive of Work Rights Centre, stated: We have seen case after case of migrant care workers sold a dream in Britain, leaving their careers and families behind, only to find destitution and abandonment by their employer and the state. She called for the skilled worker visa to be reformed to make it easier to change employers when rights or contracts are breached.
Tribunal Findings
Employment Judge Kate Edmonds noted that Shaji had done everything necessary to start work, but the respondent treated him as a zero-hours worker, which he was not. The judge found that the company made unauthorised deductions from his wages by withholding work. The tribunal also heard that Swan Care staff suggested Shaji take cash-in-hand jobs and use a food bank when he said he was struggling.
Shaji's Testimony
Shaji described his ordeal: I was broke and had to rely on charity. I drank tap water and bought bread close to its expiration date to survive. He added that he felt no one in authority cared if he lived or died. The judge noted that Swan Care's actions had serious long-term detrimental effects on his personal and family finances.
Swan Care Solutions did not respond to a request for comment. The charity Work Rights Centre highlighted that thousands of people have paid recruiters only to be ghosted upon arrival in the UK.
