Dear [insert name],

I am writing to you as my local councillor. I am a resident of [insert address]. I am writing regarding the rights and safety of migrant workers in our local area.

All of us deserve to be safe at work – and when we can all work without fear of exploitation and abuse, we all benefit. Vital protections are in place to protect workers – but these are undermined when workers cannot report abuse safely.

Labour inspectors visit workplaces up and down the country, including in our local area, making sure that workplaces are safe, and that workers are paid properly. But for migrant workers, these protections are out of reach. Labour inspectors often share data about migrant workers’ status with the Home Office, and even run joint raids with Immigration Enforcement.

This means that workers who are undocumented – and those who do have status but are unsure of their rights – are too afraid to speak up about exploitation and abuse at work. Doing so could mean being arrested, locked up in a detention centre and ripped away from their communities.

Evidence shows that migrant workers often face horrific exploitation at work – but they have no avenue to speak up safely. As a result, exploitative bosses thrive, and all workers are less safe.

Local authorities are responsible for around half of all labour inspections, and our local area is no different. Local authorities can be part of making work safer for all of us by pledging never to share data from their labour inspectors with the Home Office. There is no legal obligation on local authorities to share this data – and evidence shows that all workers benefit when data-sharing ends.

As my local councillor, I ask you to share this briefing with council officers, and at the next full council meeting, put forward this motion pledging to stop local authority labour inspectors from sharing data with the Home Office.

I hope that through this, we can make our local authority safer for migrant workers, and for all of us.

Yours faithfully,

[insert name]