Health access and equity for UK migrant workers: A scoping review and co-produced guiding principles

Migrant workers comprise 19% of the UK workforce and may face disproportionate exposure to precarious employment, occupational health risks, and barriers to healthcare, yet evidence to inform equitable health interventions remains limited. This study aimed to identify at-risk sectors, key health needs, available data sources, and guiding principles to inform interventions reducing health inequity among migrant workers. We conducted a scoping review of academic and grey literature to map evidence on health risks among low-wage or precarious migrant workers in the UK, alongside available datasets on health outcomes, including sector-specific risks, exploitative work, service access, and interventions. This was complemented by a co-produced workshop with 42 individuals with lived experience and community organisations to explore priorities and co-design guiding principles for intervention development. The review and workshop identified key high-risk sectors including cleaning, domestic work, agriculture, and care work. Migrant workers were over-represented in these sectors and may be at increased risk of exploitation and related health harms due to visa concerns, language barriers, and limited knowledge of employment rights. Hazardous working conditions, poor mental health, and structural challenges were also identified as contributors to health inequity. Available data sources were fragmented and insufficient to comprehensively capture migrant worker health outcomes. Co-produced guiding principles emphasised the importance of co-production and trauma-informed approaches, flexible and culturally relevant multi-sited interventions, and a focus on empowerment, prevention, and rights-based advocacy. These findings provide a framework for developing accessible and effective healthcare interventions to improve migrant worker health equity in the UK.

Key messages

• Migrant workers in the UK face substantial occupational and structural barriers to health, yet evidence and surveillance systems remain inadequate to capture their health needs.

• Co-produced guiding principles offer a practical framework for developing equitable, accessible and culturally relevant health interventions for migrant workers.