Protecting migrant domestic workers in the UK

Each year, some 20,000 foreign domestic workers come to the UK to undertake work within a private household, ranging from housekeeping to childcare. Though domestic work is often seen as a route out of poverty, with domestic workers sending remittances back to families in their country of origin, structural barriers relating to migration and labour market policies create vulnerabilities for this hidden workforce. This paper explores the situation of migrant domestic workers in the UK, and gives an overview of a campaign in which Oxfam worked with partners to overcome a policy change that would have put migrant domestic workers at even greater risk.