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Recruitment agents who scam foreign nationals applying to work in the UK care sector have been exposed by BBC secret filming. One of the rogue agents is a Nigerian doctor who has worked for the NHS in the field of psychiatry. The Home Office has acknowledged the system is open to abuse, but the BBC World Service’s investigation shows the apparent ease with which these agents can scam people, avoid detection, and continue to profit.
Our secret filming reveals agents’ tactics, including: illegally selling jobs in UK care companies, devising fake payroll schemes to conceal that some jobs do not exist, and shifting from care to other sectors, like construction, that also face staff shortages.
Reports of immigration scams have increased since a government visa scheme – originally designed to let foreign medical professionals work in the UK – was broadened in 2022 to include care workers. To apply for the visa, candidates must first obtain a “Certificate of Sponsorship” (CoS) from a UK employer who is licensed by the Home Office. It is the need for CoS documents that is being exploited by rogue relocation agents.
“The scale of exploitation under the Health and Care Work visa is significant,” says Dora-Olivia Vicol, CEO of Work Rights Centre, a charity that helps migrants and disadvantaged people in the UK access employment justice. “I think it has turned into a national crisis.”
The BBC sent two undercover journalists to approach relocation agents working in the UK. One met Dr Kelvin Alaneme, a Nigerian doctor and founder of the agency, CareerEdu, based in Harlow, Essex. His website states his business is a “launchpad for global opportunities catering to young Africans”, claiming to have 9,800 “happy clients”.
Believing the BBC undercover journalist was well connected in the UK care sector, Dr Alaneme tried to recruit her to become an agent for his business, saying it would be very lucrative. “Just get me care homes. I can make you a millionaire,” he said. As a potential business partner, our journalist was then given unprecedented insight into how immigration scams by agents like Dr Alaneme actually work.
Dr Alaneme said he would pay £2,000 for each care home vacancy she was able to procure, and offered £500 commission on top. He then said he would sell the vacancies to candidates back in Nigeria. Charging candidates for a job is illegal in the UK. “They [the candidates] are not supposed to be paying because it’s free. It should be free,” he said, lowering his voice. “They are paying because they know it’s most likely the only way.”
The BBC began investigating him following a series of online complaints about his relocation services. Praise was one of those who complained, claiming he paid Dr Alaneme more than £10,000 for a job in the UK. He says he was told he was going to be working with a care company called Efficiency for Care, based in Clacton-on-Sea. It was only when he arrived that he realised the job didn’t exist.
We discovered Mr Agyemang-Prempeh had then begun offering CoS for UK jobs in construction – another industry that allows employers to recruit foreign workers. He was able to set up his own construction company and obtain a sponsorship licence from the Home Office.
Our journalist, posing as a UK-based Ugandan businessman wanting to bring Ugandan construction workers over to join him, asked Mr Agyemang-Prempeh if this was possible. He replied it was – for the price of £42,000 for three people.
Mr Agyemang-Prempeh told us he had moved into construction because rules are being “tightened” in the care sector – and claimed agents were eyeing other industries. “People are now diverting to IT,” Mr Agyemang-Prempeh told the undercover journalist.
More than 470 licences in the UK care sector were revoked by the government between July 2022 and December 2024. Those licensed sponsors were responsible for the recruitment of more than 39,000 medical professionals and care workers from October 2020. Mr Agyemang-Prempeh later asked for a downpayment for the Certificates of Sponsorship, which the BBC did not make. The Home Office has now revoked his sponsorship licence.
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