Migrant Workers in South Lincolnshire

Migrant Workers in South Lincolnshire

A Report for Community Lincs

By

Policy Studies Research Centre, University of Lincoln

Executive summary

Net migration to the UK has accelerated in recent years, due to the enlargement of the European Union in 2004. Unprecedentedly, the latest increase in numbers of migrant workers has been greater in rural areas in general, and in Lincolnshire in particular. This report was commissioned with the following purposes:

• to review the state of our knowledge concerning migrant workers in the UK, in particular its impact on the economy, industrial relations, housing, the receiving communities, and service providers
• to review existing data sources in an attempt to provide a best estimate of the numbers of migrant workers living rurally in Boston and South Holland
• to evaluate the impact of migrant worker populations on the rural context, including community facilities, housing, health, education and policing.

The literature indicates that immigrant labour makes a significant net contribution to the UK economy. In spite of problems with some employers, who have exploited the weak labour market position of migrant workers, evidence suggests that in general the situation of the latest wave of immigrants has already improved. Similarly, initial difficulties in accessing suitable housing have eased as migrants’ economic situation has got better. In general, however, migrant workers remain vulnerable in the event of a recession, both to unemployment and to homelessness that can result from this.

The reception of migrant workers by local communities has been largely positive, though more for white than for non-white migrants, and contrasts with the hostile reception often experienced by asylum seekers. Almost certainly, this is due to the economic benefits that migrant workers are perceived to bring, coupled with the perception by local people that these workers are here for legitimate reasons and do not pose a cultural threat. Where tensions and conflicts do exist, they tend to be in areas of higher unemployment or where local populations are less accustomed to the use of migrant labour. The latter include many rural areas with little experience of accommodating diversity, but not South Lincolnshire because this area has been dependent on migrant labour for many years.

Numbers of migrant workers in South Lincolnshire

Estimating numbers of migrant workers is notoriously difficult (see, for example, Gaine, 2007). Both the main sources of data, on National Insurance number allocations and registrations under the Worker Registration Scheme (WRS), are seriously flawed. Nevertheless, a close comparison of data from the two sources allows a very rough estimate to be made. This places the total migrant worker population in South Lincolnshire to be somewhere between 10,495 and 17,972 at the beginning of 2007.

Conditions of migrant workers in rural South Lincolnshire

Extensive research has already been conducted concerning the nature of the migrant worker population in South Lincolnshire, by Zaronaite and Tirzite (2006). This research therefore aimed to provide only a brief update on the situation.

WRS registrations indicated that the pattern of employment found by Zaronaite and Tirzite had continued, with a concentration in food processing and packing. Further interviews, with 27 migrant workers, were secured largely through contacting gangmasters listed on the Gangmasters Licensing Authority public register. Most of these were Polish, and nearly all came from the A8 countries and worked on packing or packaging fruit and vegetables. Although the continuation of existing employment patterns suggested a certain degree of stability, the interviews revealed a high degree of uncertainty about the future, with prospects dependent on the availability of more suitable employment and housing.

In general, for the foreseeable future, migrants expected to be continuing to live in the same village or part of town (a decreasing proportion as time passes) or to move elsewhere in the UK or return to their country of origin; interestingly, none of them expected to be living elsewhere in South Lincolnshire. They also expected to be continuing to rent from a private landlord, though a possibly increasing number expected to own their own home within two years; hardly any expected to be renting from Boston Mayflower or South Holland District Council.

Impact of migrant workers on public services in rural South Linconshire

Interviews were conducted with representatives of a range of organisations operating in the more rural areas of South Lincolnshire.

Comments from parish council representatives indicated little unofficial and no official contact with migrant workers, a perception that this was not a major issue for them, and that they would respond to events as necessary as they arose.

Statistics from Boston Borough Council, Boston Mayflower Housing Association and South Holland District Council revealed that the main non-British nationalities seeking housing were Portuguese, Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian. In Boston, the numbers of Portuguese on the housing register, which had been fairly stable for some years, declined dramatically in 2007. In contrast, the number and proportion of Poles has increased incrementally since April 2005, while the number and proportion of Lithuanians and Latvians, having increased sharply from mid 2005 to mid 2006, has stabilised since then. In South Holland, the numbers of these four nationalities took off only from April 2006 and continue to increase but, as a proportion of the applications on the register, they have already stabilised. In Boston, and even more so in South Holland, the numbers of lettings to these nationalities have remained very small, making it difficult to draw any firm conclusions. Very few non-British applicants, either in Boston or South Holland, were being rehoused in more rural areas – a total of 6 in over two years in Boston (4 in Kirton and 2 in Fishtoft), and only 3 in nearly three years in South Holland.

The main impact of migrant workers on education services has been in the demand for English language classes and, more recently, in pupil intake to schools in South Lincolnshire. In Boston, it appears that the influx of migrant worker children to primary schools may have enabled some schools to remain open that would otherwise have been closed. Lincolnshire County Council’s Ethnic Minority Achievement in Schools Service (EMASS) has provided training for teachers to take more responsibility for EAL learning, support for teachers and EAL pupils to achieve proficiency in English, funding for bilingual teaching assistants, and training for migrant worker support groups. Currently, EMASS were working with schools and pupils to address issues of common concern on community cohesion. They had also initiated a project that facilitated experienced teachers to visit other schools that had little or no experience of migrant workers, with a view to building networks where relevant experience and expertise would be passed from school to school.

Interviews with representatives of three primary schools in rural areas revealed contrasting perceptions, depending on whether or not the school had any significant experience of dealing with migrant workers or with minority ethnic children more generally. The two schools that had no such experience felt that it was not a concern for them and, if it came to be a concern, they would ask for assistance at that time. The third school, however, had experienced a substantial intake of migrant worker pupils since September 2006, which apparently resulted from an overspill from schools in Spalding town (if this experience is anything to go by, it seems likely that, in the course of time, such overspill will come to affect all schools in the South Lincolnshire area). It had pressing needs for English language learning, and for books in migrant worker languages. It achieved proficiency in English through structured lessons, with additional planning, and extra teaching assistant time spent on English language learning. Managing this, however, involved extra costs and also the diversion of staff from other activities. The influx of new pupils had many implications, some of which had not yet been thought through, for example, inequality of access to 11+ examination papers due to insufficient fluency in English.

The impact of migrant workers on policing appeared to be mainly a matter of the police learning how to liaise and interact with people who are new to the country and unfamiliar with English language and English laws. Lincolnshire Police had published a practical guide to the law in eight languages, which a survey in the Grantham area had shown was known to most Polish migrants in the area, who regarded it as useful, for example, in specifying the legal limits on speed and drink-driving. The police believed that tensions between migrants and local people had reduced in Boston and South Holland, but not in Grantham, since the disturbances in 2004. The police were still unclear how best to develop contact and liaison with migrant worker communities, but were not aware of any pressing issues. They felt that the incidence of law-breaking was more or less the same among migrant worker populations as among the rest of the population, and was treated in more or less the same way. There had been a higher incidence of driving offences initially among migrant workers, but this was no longer the case. According to the survey by Odrowaz-Coates (2007), most migrant workers expressed positive opinions about the police, and less than 2% had a negative view.

Migrant workers have had a huge impact on Citizens Advice Bureaux (CABx), which are a major source of advice and information for them. The most frequent enquiries related to employment, benefits and housing. CABx were finding it difficult to cope with the workload, particularly in the face of reductions in their budgets, although CAB workers noted that the situation for migrant workers had improved, e.g. in relation to employment and housing. The impact of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority was viewed favourably, and CAB workers felt that its remit could be usefully extended to cover a wider range of types of employment. CAB workers lacked fluency in migrant worker languages, so had to work through volunteer translators, which was more time-consuming and made for a less responsive service.

A variety of Third Sector organisations in Lincolnshire have attempted to respond to the needs of migrant workers and to bring different communities together. These organisations include: Community Lincs, Lincolnshire Language Services, CABx and South Lincs CVS. Relevant projects include the Capacity Builders funded Building Bridges project and the Revive & Thrive project (mainly funded by Lincolnshire County Council). Evaluation of these projects suggests that they have delivered visible and practical outcomes.

A plea was made, however, for long-term continuous interaction between communities, through mainstream service organisations, rather than one-off time-limited projects. The unpredictability of flashpoints in tension between communities was also emphasised, with the implication that the right kind of atmosphere needs to be created and fostered, rather than a more instrumental ‘what works’ approach. Hence the development of the Building Bridges initiative, which attempts to build one-off encounters between migrants and local people into wider-ranging and more lasting relationships.

Conclusion

Perhaps the most important conclusion to be drawn from this research is that the significant influx of migrant workers into South Lincolnshire over the last few years has not substantially impacted on the more rural parts of the area but almost certainly will do so over the next few years. The impact on the urban areas, particularly Boston town and Spalding, has been considerable, and it is clear that some important lessons have been learned from this, which to some extent can be transferred to the more rural areas.

The first lesson is to ensure that services are better prepared in advance to deal with new migrants, particularly in terms of the provision of relevant information and advice, in relevant languages and formats.[1] English language classes and other forms of education should ideally be made available in migrants’ countries of origin, e.g. through the British embassies in those countries, but, failing that, they should be readily and freely accessible in the UK. Given also that CABx will continue to be unlikely to be able to afford to provide interpreters, with the consequence that migrant workers who cannot speak English and who cannot find or persuade someone to interpret for them will not be able to use their services, it is vitally important for there to be groups of volunteers in place whose members speak the relevant languages and can point them towards the services they need, acting as interpreters where necessary. Currently, Spalding International Group performs this role, with a membership of fifteen meeting monthly, but similar groups are needed in the more rural areas.

Second, it is clear that far more needs to be done to prepare the indigenous population for the arrival of migrant workers, particularly in large numbers. The myth-busting leaflet is an example of good practice here, although it was actually a response to damage that had already been done. There is a need to be more proactive here, rather than just reacting to events as they occur. There appears to have been a combination of too many heads in the sand on one hand, and too many unfounded rumours and scare-stories on the other. One clear example of a proactive policy, however, was that of the EMASS project (still in its early stages) whereby the learning achieved by schools in the more urban areas was to be cascaded onto schools in the more rural areas. Another is the Building Bridges project, which, as its title suggests, is attempting to build bridges across communities that will provide a firmer base for delivering good community relations in the future. Relevant strategies also appeared to be in the process of being developed by local councils, but these strategies did not appear to be up and running at the present time.

Third, there appears to be an absence of leadership nationally or regionally in relation to housing policy for migrant workers in rural areas. A typical ‘let’s wait and see’ comment is: ‘How much the rapid increase in migrant worker arrivals since 2004 is going to translate into increased pressure on social housing remains to be seen’ (Brandon, 2007). The Commission for Rural Communities (2007), in its report on progress since the publication of the government’s Affordable Rural Housing Commission report in 2006, did not even mention migrant workers as an issue, even though it consulted with a wide range of organisations that play a role in providing affordable rural housing. This seems to be a glaring omission on the Commission’s part, in view of the impact that the migrant worker population is likely to have on rural housing demand in the near future. For, just as the schools are already filling up in the more urban areas, prompting migrant worker parents to seek places for their children at more rural schools, so it is likely that migrant workers will increasingly seek to move out of HMOs and shared private rented accommodation (located largely in urban areas) and into social housing and low-cost home ownership (distributed across South Lincolnshire). Given the skills of a number of migrant workers, it is of course possible that they may help to build the housing they need themselves (e.g. through self-build associations, housing co-operatives, and community land trusts).

Vasta (2007) argues that the successful integration of new communities involves a process of ‘mutual accommodation’, whereby changes occur in both the migrant communities and the settled communities. The tendency, however, is to specify with increasing precision how migrant communities must change (e.g. learning English) but to ignore the issue of how settled communities must change (e.g. respect for diversity). In similar vein, Seglow (2007) argues that migrants are effectively full members of society, co-operating in all forms of social life, so are entitled to be treated as citizens equal to everyone else.

There also seems to be a widespread belief that there is a need to monitor changes in the migrant worker population: ‘Given that the size and profile of migrant flows could change over time, it is important to monitor such flows and employers’ skill requirements on a continuing basis’ (Green et al, 2006, p.5). This research, however, uncovered little evidence of any such effective monitoring in South Lincolnshire. It is arguable, in any case, that such an approach focuses one-sidedly on the migrant worker population, when the problem (if there is one at all) lies just as much with the indigenous population, in terms of the need to monitor their activities in relation to employment, training, and even learning to be a ‘good citizen’. An interesting question that arises here is in relation to the finding that many employers prefer to employ migrant workers, not only because they can pay them less (and it is by no means always the case that they do so) but because they find them to be harder working and more reliable than native English workers. This is just one finding that, if there is a problem, then it seems to lie elsewhere than with migrant workers, who do in fact seem to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

In relation to the three kinds of effective response from public services mentioned by Pillai et al (2007, p.23), this research found little evidence of partnership working in relation to migrant workers and indeed little awareness among public sector agencies of what other agencies were doing. Much appeared to depend on the efforts of a small number of dedicated and energetic individuals, who did not all stay in post for particularly long periods. Where networking did occur, it was not always clear how effective it was. On the issue of effective communication with local communities, one could point to some evidence of good practice, e.g. the myth-busting leaflet, but it seemed to be a matter of one-off activities and events rather than an established part of everyday practice. Even the concept of ‘local community’ was unclear – e.g. does it include migrant workers or not? Only the police appeared to have a clear understanding of what they were doing here, though the two district councils were making progress on this. On the third issue, concerning efforts to improve the evidence base on new migrants, as mentioned above, the purposes of making such efforts need to be more clearly specified and agreed to beforehand and it was not clear that such agreement was yet in place, i.e. more work is required with the indigenous population before effective policy can be developed in this area. In a sense, though, this report is itself an example of an effort to improve this evidence base.