Calls to close loophole that puts UK domestic workers at risk of ‘slavery’

A woman hanging laundry. Labour’s deputy leader says the loophole has in effect given permission for employers to exploit live-in workers. Photograph: Tatsiana Volkava/Getty/iStockPhoto

Campaigners are calling on the government to close a minimum wage loophole, two years after the independent Low Pay Commission warned that it allowed vulnerable migrant workers in private homes to be exploited.

The commission (LPC) was asked by the government to examine the family worker exemption, which permits employers to pay domestic staff less than the national minimum wage if they live-in and are treated like a member of the family.