A few weeks ago, when Manuela’s* employers started showing symptoms of coronavirus, she was faced with an impossible decision.
A 22-year-old live-in nanny from Brazil, she doesn’t have right-to-work documentation and therefore relies on cash-in-hand income from the families she works for. If she doesn’t go to work, where she is exposed to the virus, she won’t get any cash. Without that cash she can’t pay for food and basic necessities. As one of the 2 million workers in the UK’s informal economy, many of whom are migrant women, she is not able to receive any support from the government.
Government support measures such as the Job Retention Scheme and the Self-employed Income Support Scheme will help many workers through the coronavirus pandemic, providing up to £2,500 per month. But unions, migrant support organisations and other frontline groups have highlighted how these measures fail to do anything for many of the vulnerable workers who need support. Even our minimal social security system for those who fall through the net is unavailable to migrants.
