‘They haven’t the foggiest who we are’: the watchdog fighting to protect Britain’s exploited workers

Margaret Beels: ‘It is hard not to say more resources would result in more things being done.’ Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Observer

Margaret Beels struggles to hide her frustration. Shocking revelations about the exploitation of vulnerable workers emerge on an all-too-frequent basis, the latest being more than 50 Indian students working in Welsh care homes who had wages withheld or underpaid.

Yet despite the depressing frequency of these occurrences, several initiatives intended to tackle such egregious problems have been caught in parliamentary gridlock. It is clear that modern slavery remains embedded in British life six years after ministers created a workers’ rights tsar.