A significant win – Capita ends use of bonded labour

We have significant news about our indentured labour case.

As you may already know, we launched a new crowdfunding campaign to take outsourcing giants Capita and FDM to court over their so-called ‘graduate programmes’. These companies have been offering ‘training’ to young people who, after completion, are bound to stay with them for two years on unfair terms. They cannot leave before completing those two years without paying a release fee of tens of thousands of pounds. And we wrote to them saying we would sue them in the High Court.

Faced with the prospect of legal action that would expose the practice as unlawful, Capita, as was reported by the Guardian and BBC Radio 4’s Money Box, abandoned its demand that graduates pay for training if they leave before finishing the two-year period.

Meanwhile, Frank Field, Labour MP and chair of the parliamentary work and pensions committee, has written to the business secretary, Greg Clark, asking him to open a public inquiry into Capita and FDM’s conduct.

Given that Capita have effectively accepted their practice is unlawful, and will, we understand, release existing graduates from the bond, we do not see any further purpose in pursuing Capita. This is a significant win for the Good Law Project.     

But our work is not yet complete. FDM does not yet accept that its practices, which indenture many thousands of graduates, is unlawful. We intend to issue proceedings in the High Court next week to release those graduates from their bond. With your help, we can end this practice. Please support us here.