Problems with work if you have a Health and Care Worker visa
This advice applies to Scotland. See advice for See advice for England, See advice for Northern Ireland, See advice for Wales
You have the same rights at work as any other worker. However, if you have a Health and Care Worker visa it can be hard to complain about your rights because your visa is linked to your job.
If you complain about your rights and your employer dismisses you, your visa will be cancelled.
If you’re worried about being dismissed, it might be best to find a different employer to sponsor you. When you’ve got a new employer, you might be able to take action against your old employer without risking your visa.
If you’ve been dismissed, you can check what to do when you’ve lost your job.
If you think you’re being exploited
If you’re having serious problems at work, you might be experiencing exploitation. Exploitation is also called human trafficking or modern slavery.
Every case of exploitation is different. There are signs you can look out for if something doesn’t feel right about your situation.
You might be experiencing exploitation if:
you’re being paid very little, or nothing at all
you owe money to your employer
you’re forced to work very long hours
you’ve been threatened with physical violence
you’re being forced to live in unsuitable accommodation
you’re forced to have sex with people
Yasmin is from India. Her family helped her get a job in a care home in the UK. They paid £5,000 to an agency in India to arrange a job with accommodation and a visa. The agency said they’d need to pay even more money later.
When Yasmin got to the UK, the care home said her English was too bad to do the job. They said she had to work as a cleaner until her English improved.
Now Yasmin works 40 hours a week as a cleaner. They pay her £100 a week with accommodation. She has to share her accommodation with 3 other people - they all sleep on camp beds.
Yasmin is still paying the agency in India. She’s also still paying her family back. She says she can’t return to India or leave her job because she won’t be able to pay the debt.
Yasmin might have been trafficked to the UK for exploitation.
You should get help if you think you're being exploited.
If there was no job when you got to the UK
You might have been scammed.
When the Home Office find out there was no job, they’ll send you a letter saying your Health and Care Worker visa has been cancelled.
If you want to stay in the UK, you’ll need to find another employer to sponsor you.
Talk to an adviser if you think you've been scammed.
Check you’re being paid the right amount
You should check you’re being paid at least the minimum rate for your job.
If you’re not being paid the minimum rate for your job, you should also check you’re being paid at least the National Minimum Wage.
Check you’re being paid the minimum rate for your job
The minimum rate for your job depends on whether you’re either:
a care worker or home carer
a health worker - for example a doctor, nurse or health professional like a therapist, social worker or paramedic
If you're a care worker or home carer
The minimum rate is £10.75 an hour - your employer shouldn’t pay you less than this.
If you work 37.5 hours a week, your yearly salary must be at least £20,960.
If your employer is paying you less than the minimum rate, you can ask them to pay you the correct amount.
You can check what to do if you're having problems getting paid and how to complain.
If you're a health worker
The minimum rate is £10.75 an hour - your employer shouldn’t pay you less than this.
If you work 37.5 hours a week, your yearly salary must be at least £20,960.
Your job also has a ‘going rate’ - this is an amount set by the NHS. The going rate will depend on the NHS pay bands and how many years’ experience you have.
You should be paid at least 80% of the going rate for your job. If 80% of the going rate is less than the minimum rate, your employer must pay you at least the minimum rate.
Ade has got a job as a nursing support worker on band 3 of the pay scale.
The going rate for the job is £23,177 a year for 37.5 hours a week - this is the going rate.
Ade should get at least 80% of the going rate, unless it’s less than the minimum rate of £20,960.
80% of £23,177 is £18,542. This is less than the minimum rate.
Ade must be paid at least the minimum rate of £20,960.
You can check the going rate for your job on the NHS Employers website.
If your employer isn’t paying you the correct amount, you can ask them to pay the money they owe you.
You can check what to do if you're having problems getting paid and how to complain.
Check you’re getting the National Minimum Wage
Your employer shouldn’t pay you less than the National Minimum Wage. If you’re 23 or over, they shouldn’t pay you less than the National Living Wage.
They might be paying you less if they’ve deducted money from your wages - for example for travel, training or accommodation.
You can check the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage and what to do if you’re being paid less.
If your employer deducted money from your wages or charged you fees
You might have been charged fees or had money deducted by your employer. If you’re not sure what the fees or deduction is for, you can check your payslip or ask your employer.
Your employer can only deduct money for something you’ve agreed to pay - you need to have agreed to it before they make the deduction. You can check what you’ve agreed to pay for by checking your employment contract or written agreement.
Your employer has to pay you the National Minimum Wage - this means they usually can’t deduct money if it would mean they’re paying you less.
You can check what to do if you’re having problems getting paid and how to complain.
If your employer has asked you to pay sponsor fees
You shouldn’t have to pay any of the following sponsor fees:
the Sponsor Licence fee
the Certificate of Sponsorship fee
the Immigration Skills Charge
If your employer is telling you to pay sponsor fees, you can talk to an adviser.
If a recruitment agency charged you fees
If you were recruited through an agency in the UK, there are rules they have to follow.
If you were recruited by an agency outside the UK, they have to follow the rules in the country where they’re based.
If you were recruited by an agency in the UK
The agency isn’t allowed to charge you a fee for finding you a job.
The agency is allowed to charge you fees for other things. For example they can charge fees for:
helping you write your CV
helping you move to the UK
If you’ll be charged a fee for the agency’s work, they must tell you about the fee and you must agree to it before they start the work.
If a recruitment agency has charged you fees and you think they shouldn’t have, you can talk to an adviser.
Problems with how many hours you work
If you’re not sure how many hours you’re supposed to work, you should check your contract. It should tell you:
the number of hours your employer has to give you
the usual times you’ll be working each week
how much overtime you can do
You can find out how to check your employment contract.
If your employer isn’t giving you enough hours
You should talk to your employer to try and sort out the problem.
You might still be entitled to be paid for the hours you were supposed to work, even if there was no work.
Your employer might be giving you fewer hours because they don’t have enough work for you. You can check what to do if your employer doesn’t have enough work for you.
If your employer’s situation has changed since they applied for their licence and they have less work for you, they must tell the Home Office within 20 days. If the Home Office decide to cancel your visa, they’ll write to you to tell you your Health and Care Worker visa has ended.
If you think you’re working too many hours
Your employer can’t make you work more than 48 hours a week on average.
If you travel as part of your job, for example if you care for people in their homes, you should count time spent travelling as working time.
You can check if you’re working more than the 48-hour limit.
If you’re working less than the 48-hour limit, you might still feel you're working too many hours if you:
have mental or physical health problems because of overwork
work more overtime than it says in your contract or more than you think is fair
are asked to do more than it's realistic to achieve in your normal working hours
If you’re having other problems at work
You can get help - for example you can get help with:
getting paid if you're too sick to work - check if you can get sick pay
getting paid when you're on holiday - check if you can get paid holiday
You can also get help if you’ve experienced discrimination - you can check if your problem at work is discrimination.
If you need help with a different problem, you can get help with problems at work.
If you want to find a new employer to sponsor you
Before you leave your job, you should check your employment contract to find out your responsibilities and rights. For example, you should check if your employer can charge you fees.
Talk to an adviser if you want to leave your job and you’re not sure about your rights.
You’ll need to find a new employer to sponsor you.
Check an employer is a licensed sponsor holder
Your new employer must be a licensed sponsor holder so they can give you a new Certificate of Sponsorship. You can find the list of licensed sponsor holders on the Autonomy website.
If an employer isn’t on the list, it’s best to find a different employer.
If you’re using a recruitment agency
You can check if the agency is on the list of ethical recruiters on GOV.UK. If they’re on the list it means they’ve said they’ll follow the government’s rules about recruitment.
Updating your Health and Care Worker visa
When you’ve found a new employer, you’ll need to apply to update your visa.
If your partner or children have visas that depend on your visa, you’ll need to update their visas as well.
Page last reviewed on 21 September 2023