H-Metro Reporter
GLADY’S Chingoka, the businesswoman who has been at the centre of the controversy related to ill-treatment of her employees, is part of a network of employers who have turned the British care industry into something close to a slave field.
Chingoka’s home care agency, Home Support Services, which operates in the UK, is in the eye of the storm in the dubious scheme which has left many of the Zimbabwean employees surviving on ‘slave’ wages.
There are shocking claims that some of the workers, who are working under her agency, are getting as low as £150 a month, which translates to about £1 800 a year.
That is a tenth of what the average care assistant should be getting according to the figures, which were released by nurses.co.uk in June.
They claim they work 39 or 40 hours a week and their contracts say they should be paid a full basic wage.
However, they have been getting about £1 an hour, instead of the recommended £8 to £9 an hour.
Chingoka (52) is a director of two companies, Greencare 23 Limited and Home Support Services, which are both registered in the UK.
She has been director of Home Support Services for eight years.
She allegedly threatens to get them deported if they expose her ill-treatment.
Documents gleaned by H-Metro show there is concern, among authorities in the UK, over this network of agencies who have turned employees into some sort of slaves.
“Unseen’s Helpline Annual Assessment for 2022 reported a rising number of modern slavery cases across the UK,” the Unseen UK Anti-Slavery Charity reported in its 2022 annual assessment report.
“The assessment recorded 6,516 potential victims, a 116 percent increase from 2021 figures. It notes that 50 percent of cases were due to labour exploitation.
“The report highlights a rising trend of cases of modern slavery in the care sector, reporting a 1,024 percent rise to 708 potential victims.
“The report emphasises a trend relating to Indian, Zimbabwean and Nigerian nationals in this sector, who for the first time are victims of forced labour in care settings.
“It underlines how the use of temporary labour and low pay in this sector makes workers more vulnerable to abuse.
“The report highlights the role of recruitment tactics to facilitate modern slavery and exploitation, noting that the most prevalent recruitment tactic is the use of job offers or advertisements, particularly where the job offered is portrayed as highly attractive but is in reality very different, or where the job is ‘a bogus offer’.”
It added:
“In the care sector, the number of potential victims increased from 106 in 2021 to 708 last year.
“Exploitation of Indian, Zimbabwean and Nigerian nationals was particularly prominent in care homes.”