Renaissance Personnel Licence Revoked: Zimbos Stranded
Home Office raised concerns about the genuineness of vacancies and whether staff were being paid appropriately.
Renaissance Personnel Licence Revoked: Zimbos Stranded
Hundreds of migrants and their families, including those from Zimbabwe, face the prospect of being in Britain illegally after the company that sponsored their visas was stripped of its ability to do so.
The Home Office has revoked the licence of Renaissance Personnel, a care agency in Brighton, over concerns about the genuineness of vacancies and whether staff were being paid appropriately.
Foreign workers employed by Renaissance Personnel now have just weeks to find a new sponsor or return home before their legal right to remain in the UK expires.
Among those affected is Muhammad (45) who brought his wife and four children from Pakistan to Britain in April 2023, hoping for a better future based on promises of employment as a care assistant.
“They were having the dream that, okay, we will move to the UK. We will have great education. Now they are worried,” Muhammad told Sky News. “They ask me, ‘Baba, what will we do?’ Always we will be going here, there and now we don’t have anywhere.”
Muhammad claims he paid £19,000 to a recruitment agent before receiving a certificate of sponsorship and job offer from Renaissance Personnel.
Renaissance Personnel Licence Revoked: Zimbos Stranded
The company, however, denies any connection to foreign recruitment agents.
Upon arrival, Muhammad discovered there was no work available for him despite his certificate stating an urgent need for care workers with “1500 hours uncovered per week.” He was supposed to be guaranteed 39 hours of work per week but found no contracted work available.
He pleaded with Renaissance Personnel’s boss, Dennis Mawadzi, for an administrative job and ended up working in the company’s Brighton office. The Brighton branch, registered with the Care Quality Commission in January 2021, has never been inspected.
Muhammad claims more than 150 foreign workers were recruited for the Brighton site alone, but there is only enough work for about 15 staff members. Brighton and Hove Council confirmed to Sky News that it had used Renaissance Personnel to deliver care to a small number of clients.
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These migrants now have 60 days to secure new sponsorship or face returning home.
