Investigating the role of employee ethnicity as a risk factor for exploitative labour practices in the UK adult social care industry a focus on London

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The UK's adult social care industry faces deep-rooted challenges, including inadequate funding and commissioning structures; high staff turnover; intensifying pressure on staff recruitment and retention; widespread low pay and insecure contracts; low staff morale and burnout; and a lack of workforce professionalisation, all of which are against a backdrop of an ageing population and an ever-increasing demand (Skills for Care, 2022). The prevalence of ethnic and racial inequalities across the sector is also clear, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, with higher infection rates among racialised care workers (Hussein, 2022, p.316). In 2022, the Equality and Human Rights Commission reported cases of bullying, harassment, and abuse of low-paid racialised care workers, on top of contractual inequalities, including the increased likelihood for Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) workers to be employed on zero-hours contracts (EHRC, 2022, p.41). This research would examine how these racial and ethnic inequalities manifest themselves, and what the implications are for employment relations, and the lived experiences of racialised and migrant care workers.