‘They didn’t accept me and they didn’t support me’
Benjamin Sachikonye was looking forward to a career in the UK, but instead, he has been left destitute and disillusioned.
“I am in a very precarious position. I don’t know where I am going to get my next meal from,” he says.
“I don’t have the money to pay for the rent and they are likely to throw me out with a court eviction. I have no recourse to public funds.”
Asked if he wishes he had never come to the UK he replies: “It crosses my mind a lot of the time.”
Benjamin says his story is not unfamiliar to social workers recruited from overseas. He tells it in the hope that it will help ensure better support for diaspora workers.
“They came to Zimbabwe to recruit social workers,” he says.
“They interviewed us in the country and I was selected under the International Skilled Worker visa.
“There was a relocation package with that and I got everything in order. I had the induction for the job and that went smoothly until the point where I started moving into teams.
“It was within those teams that I began to experience discrimination.”
Benjamin says he faced remarks about being a foreigner, was undermined, faced harassment and isolation from colleagues.
“They didn’t accept me and they didn’t support me. There was also mention of my age because I am over 60. They would say ‘He is an old man’. That is ageism.”
Benjamin approached his manager but was surprised by the response he got.
“He lacked experience of how to handle issues of this nature. He confided in me that if it was him he would leave the council employment and look for a job elsewhere.
“That was a very weak solution to the problem. I didn’t understand how I could just leave my job and start looking for a job elsewhere in England when it was that council that had brought me into this country.”
Benjamin says he felt “humiliated, offended and degraded” to such an extent his health was impacted.
An occupational health assessment was carried out and one of its recommendations was to move Benjamin to another team.
“It rested with management to move me elsewhere but my team manager started avoiding me so as to avoid having the conversation about what they were going to do about the recommendation from OH.”
Benjamin says he was eventually dismissed when “from nowhere” a harassment case was brought against him, which he believes was unfair and escalated beyond reason.
“At that point I had no representation – I wasn’t a BASW member, if I had been I believe the outcome would have been very different.
“They didn’t even look at any other measures, such as a warning or supervision, I was dismissed and they made it clear they were not going to renew my visa.
“There was no time to prepare – it was immediate. They literally threw me on the streets.”
The case was investigated by Social Work England and last July an investigator recommended it for closure.
Benjamin, who remains on the register, believes other overseas social workers are too often subjected to discrimination and met with a lack of support from managers. His call is for the profession to do more to “look after its own”.
“There is a notable increase in the number of cases of international social workers who have fallen on hard times as a result of immigration-related challenges they face in the UK after they lose their employment and expiry of their visa,” he says.
“This demonstrates the precarious nature of working abroad. International social workers often face unique challenges like cultural burnout, navigating foreign systems and distance from support networks.”
Now a BASW member, he is calling for a “mini-desk” within the association to research, advise, lobby, support and provide networks for overseas’ social workers.
“BASW can play a very significant role in supporting us. I am glad I am part of BASW and I want to speak about my experiences which may help people in similar situations.
“But before I get to that point I am struggling as we speak just to pay the rent.”
A response from BASW’s Diaspora special interest group
“We continue to hear deeply concerning accounts of diaspora social workers being treated in ways that imply they are not needed or fully welcome.
“Comments such as ‘go back if you don’t like it here,’ or the subtle questioning of a practitioner’s English, competence, or capability, are not benign; they are discriminatory and have a serious impact on confidence, wellbeing, and the ability to remain in the workforce.
“This is further compounded by the exclusion of social workers from the government’s ‘earned settlement’ route, which sends a troubling message about the value placed on their contribution and reinforces the sense that their presence is conditional.
“At a time when the sector urgently needs a diverse, skilled, and stable workforce, we cannot afford to lose practitioners because their belonging is undermined. Retention requires more than recruitment; it demands workplaces where diaspora social workers are respected, supported, and recognised as essential to high‑quality practice.”
Priya David and Susanne Machin-Autenrieth, co-chairs of BASW’s Diaspora SIG