Health, social, economic and cultural impacts of COVID-19 on migrant essential workers in the UK

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1.2 Scientific/technical summary (max. 250 words)COVID-19 has exposed the UK's socio-economic dependence on a chronically insecure migrantessential workforce. While risking their lives to offset the devastating effects of the pandemic,migrant workers reportedly find themselves in precarious professional and personal circumstances(temporary zero-hours contracts, work exploitation, overcrowded accommodation, limited accessto adequate health/social services including Universal Credit). This project will investigate thehealth, social, economic and cultural impacts of COVID-19 on the migrant essential workforce andhow these might impact on their continued stay in the UK. It will focus on the largest non-Britishnationality in the UK, the Polish community, who - while employed across a range of roles andsectors - are overrepresented in lower-paid essential work. We will use this group as an illustrativecase study to make wider claims and policy recommendations about migrant work during thepandemic. Using a mixed-methods approach, we will conduct: an online survey to map COVID-19impacts; in-depth qualitative interviews to establish how the pandemic has affected worker's lives;and expert interviews with stakeholders to investigate how to best support and retain migrantessential workers in COVID-19 recovery strategies. The results will generate the firstcomprehensive UK-wide dataset on the experiences of migrant essential workers against thebackdrop of COVID-19. The research, co-produced with partner organisations (Polish ExpatsAssociations, Fife Migrants Forum, PKAVS Minority Communities Hub and Polish Social andCultural Association), will generate a policy briefing, a toolkit for employers in the essential worksectors, information resources for migrant workers, alongside media and academic outputs.