Farm workers are having hundreds of pounds unlawfully deducted from their payslips, an investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and VICE World News has found.
Migrant agricultural workers who travelled thousands of miles to plug labour gaps on UK farms have faced unlawful wage deductions, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and VICE World News can reveal.
Research by TBIJ and VICE World News, along with case work data from the Work Rights Centre, found that more than 20 people working at nine farms across the UK reported being underpaid – by more than 1,000 in at least two cases.
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Among the workers is Sapana Pangeni from Nepal. She worked at EU Plants Ltd in Berkshire between November 2022 and January 2023, and was paid only two-thirds of what she was owed. Despite working roughly six hours a day for six days a week, she earned just under 2,000 over the two months. Pangeni’s payslips, bank statements and a personal log of the hours she worked show she was underpaid by more than 1,000 while at the farm.
Six other workers at EU Plants, one of the UK’s largest producers of strawberry and raspberry plants, also said they had been underpaid. They said their payslips did not correctly reflect the hours they had worked. When workers tried to check how their hours were being recorded by the field supervisor, they were yelled at, four of them said.
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