Worker Support Centre

Don't let tribunal fees undermine the government's Plan to Make Work Pay The government’s Plan to Make Work Pay promises stronger protections for workers, but apparent proposals to reintroduce employment tribunal fees risk undermining that progress.

Apparent proposals to reintroduce employment tribunal fees - last seen in 2013 under the Con-Dem coalition and scrapped following a successful challenge by UNISON - stand to undermine improvements (to some areas) in the Employment Rights Bill @timsharp.bsky.social www.tuc.org.uk/blogs/dont-l...

This is really important work…

Labour’s Employment Rights Bill may well transform workers’ rights. But only if people can access justice and enforcement of remedies can’t be dodged.

Do you really have rights at all, if the barriers to asserting them are so difficult to overcome?

New report on @scga.bsky.social co-developed by us with students and academics @uofglasgow.bsky.social as part of a project to understand seasonal agricultural workers' rights and entitlements in relation to their

💸 Pay and
✈️ visas

In Scotland.

⬇️ Check it out at the link below.

Making sure all farm workers are paid for the hours they work – Worker Support Centre Launching our brand new guide: Know your rights and evidence your work.

🌱 Who wants to work a 12-hour day and be paid for eight?

No one, yet we found widespread underpayment of seasonal farm workers.

So we're
💻 calling for policy change &
📝 equipping workers with tools to evidence time & pay.

Check our our new post!
workersupportcentre.org.uk/2025/10/02/m...

From workers highlighting horrific housing conditions to last week's Scottish Parliament discussion on how to address the gap in oversight.

This gap affects @ 45,000 people who come to pick our fruit & veg annually (who spend 20% of their wage on housing)

Read @workersupportc.bsky.social blog ⬇️

One year of action by and for workers on seasonal worker housing – Worker Support Centre

🏡 New WSC blog: Housing

Many seasonal farm workers live in cold, unsafe caravans without legal protections.

Last night Cab Sec for Housing,
@mairimcallan.bsky.social
confirmed the Scottish Government’s commitment to closing this gap.

Read our response!
workersupportcentre.org.uk/resources/on...

WSC is recruiting a Community Engagement Officer to work on our new Building Bridges project – Worker Support Centre We all want to feel safe, valued and respected at work – no matter who …

We are recruiting!

WSC is looking for a new Community Engagement Officer in Perth and Kinross to work with local community groups, organisations and individuals and to connect workers to support that exists locally.

Check out the role and share widely:
workersupportcentre.org.uk/2025/09/19/w...

Thanks to support from our friends!
@therobertsontrust.bsky.social @tnlcommunityfund.org.uk @gaatw-is.bsky.social @workrights.bsky.social @tuc.org.uk @mellino.bsky.social @richardleonardmsp.bsky.social @maggiechapman.bsky.social @povertyalliance.org @justrightscotland.org.uk

Big news from WSC: Standing in solidarity with the workers who care for us – Worker Support Centre The Worker Support Centre is really proud to make three big announcements today. We believe …

Today we're proud to share 3 major milestones:
🤝 Launching our new Worker Power stream, standing in solidarity with carers who've come to the UK to look after our loved ones.
🌱 A brand new website & look - link in bio!
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Opening our new office in Perth, in the heart of Scotland.

Thanks to @richardleonardmsp.bsky.social & @brianleishmanmp.bsky.social for joining workers on Scotland's farms & our team to hear experiences of seasonal farm work & for sharing updates on the campaign to make seasonal workers' homes safe.

Today #worlddayagainsttrafficking Scottish Government published their new Trafficking & Exploitation Strategy,with prevention at its core.

Read our statement welcoming this new approach, which could represent a significant step forward for Scotland.

workersupportcentre.org.uk/wsc-welcomes...

Read WSC's full 2024 Annual Report for more casework details and information on action taken in relation to pay and payslips:

workersupportcentre.org.uk/wp-content/u...

During 2024-25 WSC worked alongside colleagues at @tuc.org.uk @workrights.bsky.social @focusonlabour.bsky.social @antislavery.org @landworkersuk.bsky.social @fairsq.bsky.social and ATLEU as the Seasonal Worker Interest Group to highlight this issue with the DLME and Low Pay Commission.

Picking Without Freedom: The Struggle of Seasonal Workers Kevin, a seasonal agricultural worker from Uzbekistan, and Caroline Robinson of the Workers' Support Centre, are pioneering a new model for building workers' power.

See Kevin's (pseudonym) article about his experiences working in seasonal agriculture in the UK in 2024 including reflections on pay and payslips here in the Scottish Left Review:

scottishleftreview.scot/picking-with...

See Valeria Ragni, WSC Operations Manager, detailed review of payslips shared with WSC by workers throughout 2024 here:

workersupportcentre.org.uk/time-to-make...

‘Exploited’ migrant farm workers in UK paid for picks, not hours Call for investigation into unfair payment for labourers on seasonal visa scheme

See @everebecca.bsky.social piece in @theguardian.com on this in Feb 2025, with expert support from a 2024 seasonal agricultural worker.

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Seasonal agricultural workers reported wage theft & widespread payslip confusion in 2024, we partnered with workers to highlight this issue.

So we're pleased that the UK Director of Labour Market Enforcement has now committed to a review on payslips
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68779f...

New: joint Seasonal Worker Interest Group response to UK Gvt co-commissioned research on an Employer Pays Principle for workers in seasonal agriculture
workersupportcentre.org.uk/wp-content/u...

We need a safe & ethical scheme that doesn't place seasonal agricultural workers at risk of debt bondage

We make this statement as a member of the Seasonal Worker Interest Group, alongside our colleagues at @focusonlabour.bsky.social @workersupportc.bsky.social
@landworkersuk.bsky.social
@fairsq.bsky.social @antislavery.org
and ATLEU

Lovely note of the meeting between WSC Ops Manager Valeria Ragni, & Outreach Caseworker, Iryna Pakhil & the Kincardine & Mearns CAB @citizensadvicescot.bsky.social here:
www.kamcab.org.uk/news/week-no...

Our work is made so much stronger by the partnerships we build across Scotland & the UK.

Yesterday we opened our new office at WASPS Creative Exchange in Perth! (come & visit!)

This involved building furniture, rehoming beautiful plants, setting up kebab, music & seats & having a lovely AGM and party.

Heres a wee glimpse from our mini staff & Trustees photo shoot in the new office.

New by @mellino.bsky.social UK Gvt commissioned report explores "Employer Pays Principle" for agricultural worker recruitment costs.

WSC Director @carolinerobinson.bsky.social
"raised concerns that some of the report’s proposals, like introducing a loan system, could in fact worsen exploitation"

For more information on the gap in regulation and oversight for Seasonal Agricultural Worker tied-accommodation affecting thousands of workers across the UK, read our briefing.

workersupportcentre.org.uk/wsc-publishe...

This Tuesday @ariane-burgess.bsky.social shared WSC cases of unsafe agricultural worker accommodation in the Scottish Parliament.

Her amendment to the Housing Bill tried to tackle lack of oversight of this housing.

Scottish Government says its addressing this.

We look forward to hearing how.

We cannot uphold human rights for some and not others. Workers’ rights are fundamentally intertwined with migrant rights.

We've supported @antislavery.org & colleagues in condemning divisive rhetoric on migration & the attempt to brand a hostile migration policy as an anti-exploitation strategy. As we said when the Imm' White Paper came out, exploitation is tackled by upholding labour rights,not by punishing migrants

Net migration has fallen by almost 50% according to today's new ONS figures, at 431,000 for the year ending Dec 2024, down from 860,000 for the same period a year earlier.
It has fallen by 297,000 since the last ONS figures 6 months ago, for YE June 2024. Reaction to follow.

Opinion: Migrant workers prop up the UK’s social care system. Now… Labour’s crackdown will break a promise made to workers like me – and leave the system in disrepair

"I am being made to decide between staying in a country that treats my labour as indentured servitude or move to one that values my contribution. With each statement made by this government, it becomes clearer which choice I should make."

www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2025...

Temporary migration programmes, like the UK seasonal worker visa have huge risks associated.

Any increased dependence on them (attractive for net migration figures obsessives) would be a disaster for both integration - something else the paper says it cares about - and exploitation.

Instead the paper seems to suggest that restricting immigration routes and potentially introducing more temporary routes will help tackle exploitation.

But it will do the opposite.