Latest news with #Zola
Economic Times
7 days ago
- Business
- Economic Times
UK migrant carers 'owed huge sums' in visa scheme 'scandal'
Live Events When Zimbabwean sales rep Zola landed a job in Britain as a care worker she was excited about forging a new career, but the mother-of-three is now homeless, jobless and trapped in rights experts say Zola is among tens of thousands of victims in an emerging national scandal that they say is a "shocking betrayal" by the 2022, Britain launched an initiative to encourage overseas workers to plug massive staffing shortages in its struggling care sector following the COVID pandemic and reports of exploitation have soared, with rogue operators charging illegal recruitment fees and promising jobs to more people than they could employ.(Join our ETNRI WhatsApp channel for all the latest updates)In a crackdown on labour abuses, the government has banned hundreds of companies from hiring migrant carers like Zola, who had already been recruited by these firms, are now in limbo and at risk of deportation unless they find a new sponsor."This should be recognised as a national crisis," said Dora-Olivia Vicol, CEO of the charity Work Rights Centre "It's a shocking betrayal of migrant workers who came here in good faith to work when Britain called for help," she told the Thomson Reuters Work Rights Centre has been inundated with calls from desperate migrant workers this year, many facing said they were owed "huge sums". The charity is calling for harsher penalties for employers who break the rules to help fund a compensation Zola's story is typical, the Thomson Reuters Foundation calculated migrant workers like her would be owed hundreds of millions of pounds in lost no access to financial support or compensation, most care workers in Zola's situation are homeless. A few are sleeping rough, while others rely on friends."This has changed our lives," said Zola, 45, who asked to use a pseudonym for fear of repercussions."The government should be held accountable. I came here through the proper channels ... and now I'm treated like someone who came through the back door."Zola, who arrived in Britain in July 2023, said she had paid 5,000 pounds ($6,752) for a company in the northern city of Leeds to sponsor her, unaware such charges are illegal. Other care workers report paying 10,000 pounds or contract promised an annual salary of 20,480 pounds, but she was barely given any shifts, forcing her to borrow money to believes her former boss had hired about 100 carers. If staff complained they were threatened with deportation, she March, the government revealed more than 470 companies had lost their sponsor licences since 2022, affecting about 40,000 migrant government set up a job finding scheme for "displaced" workers in May 2024 and is encouraging care companies to hire research by the Work Rights Centre suggests just 3.4% of those signposted to the initiative were reported to have secured a said the government response was "deeply inadequate"."I think they're trying to bury the problem. At the end of the day, all these thousands of people are victims of fraud," she said."If we were talking about thousands of people who had booked a cruise that never materialised everyone would be screaming for a compensation scheme."A spokesperson for the government said the job matching scheme was supporting thousands of care workers, but did not respond to questions about has not had any luck finding a job through the initiative or said companies providing home care often wanted driving licences, which many carers do not obstacles facing carers include difficulties in supplying references and the cost of relocating to a new said the government had opened the gates to exploitation by setting up a system that tied workers to their sponsors through their had also allowed care companies - including small inexperienced start-ups - to recruit large numbers of carers without checking they could provide sufficient workers who lose their jobs have 60 days to find a new sponsor before their visa unions and rights campaigners are calling for a new system to allow workers to switch employers within the care sector without putting their visa at risk, and an extension to the 60-day grace month, the government said it would end care worker recruitment from abroad. Critics say the move is a knee-jerk reaction to the rise of anti-immigrant party Reform UK Jane Townson, CEO of the Homecare Association which represents domiciliary care providers, said the decision was shortsighted as there were still more than 130,000 said a lack of funding was a major home care services are purchased by local councils or the health service, but Townson said many public bodies did not pay care providers enough to even cover their labour costs at the minimum were forced to compete for contracts which were awarded to the lowest bidder, squeezing out good she said councils were driving down prices due to inadequate government funding."What we've got is state-sponsored labour exploitation," she added. "This is a public scandal."The government spokesperson said it had boosted social care funding this year and would introduce a fair pay agreement for care staff under broader Townson said the pay agreement was a long way off and would not work without a big injection of cash.
Time of India
13-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
UK migrant carers 'owed huge sums' in visa scheme 'scandal'
Live Events When Zimbabwean sales rep Zola landed a job in Britain as a care worker she was excited about forging a new career, but the mother-of-three is now homeless, jobless and trapped in rights experts say Zola is among tens of thousands of victims in an emerging national scandal that they say is a "shocking betrayal" by the 2022, Britain launched an initiative to encourage overseas workers to plug massive staffing shortages in its struggling care sector following the COVID pandemic and reports of exploitation have soared, with rogue operators charging illegal recruitment fees and promising jobs to more people than they could employ.(Join our ETNRI WhatsApp channel for all the latest updates)In a crackdown on labour abuses, the government has banned hundreds of companies from hiring migrant carers like Zola, who had already been recruited by these firms, are now in limbo and at risk of deportation unless they find a new sponsor."This should be recognised as a national crisis," said Dora-Olivia Vicol, CEO of the charity Work Rights Centre "It's a shocking betrayal of migrant workers who came here in good faith to work when Britain called for help," she told the Thomson Reuters Work Rights Centre has been inundated with calls from desperate migrant workers this year, many facing said they were owed "huge sums". The charity is calling for harsher penalties for employers who break the rules to help fund a compensation Zola's story is typical, the Thomson Reuters Foundation calculated migrant workers like her would be owed hundreds of millions of pounds in lost no access to financial support or compensation, most care workers in Zola's situation are homeless. A few are sleeping rough, while others rely on friends."This has changed our lives," said Zola, 45, who asked to use a pseudonym for fear of repercussions."The government should be held accountable. I came here through the proper channels ... and now I'm treated like someone who came through the back door."Zola, who arrived in Britain in July 2023, said she had paid 5,000 pounds ($6,752) for a company in the northern city of Leeds to sponsor her, unaware such charges are illegal. Other care workers report paying 10,000 pounds or contract promised an annual salary of 20,480 pounds, but she was barely given any shifts, forcing her to borrow money to believes her former boss had hired about 100 carers. If staff complained they were threatened with deportation, she March, the government revealed more than 470 companies had lost their sponsor licences since 2022, affecting about 40,000 migrant government set up a job finding scheme for "displaced" workers in May 2024 and is encouraging care companies to hire research by the Work Rights Centre suggests just 3.4% of those signposted to the initiative were reported to have secured a said the government response was "deeply inadequate"."I think they're trying to bury the problem. At the end of the day, all these thousands of people are victims of fraud," she said."If we were talking about thousands of people who had booked a cruise that never materialised everyone would be screaming for a compensation scheme."A spokesperson for the government said the job matching scheme was supporting thousands of care workers, but did not respond to questions about has not had any luck finding a job through the initiative or said companies providing home care often wanted driving licences, which many carers do not obstacles facing carers include difficulties in supplying references and the cost of relocating to a new said the government had opened the gates to exploitation by setting up a system that tied workers to their sponsors through their had also allowed care companies - including small inexperienced start-ups - to recruit large numbers of carers without checking they could provide sufficient workers who lose their jobs have 60 days to find a new sponsor before their visa unions and rights campaigners are calling for a new system to allow workers to switch employers within the care sector without putting their visa at risk, and an extension to the 60-day grace month, the government said it would end care worker recruitment from abroad. Critics say the move is a knee-jerk reaction to the rise of anti-immigrant party Reform UK Jane Townson, CEO of the Homecare Association which represents domiciliary care providers, said the decision was shortsighted as there were still more than 130,000 said a lack of funding was a major home care services are purchased by local councils or the health service, but Townson said many public bodies did not pay care providers enough to even cover their labour costs at the minimum were forced to compete for contracts which were awarded to the lowest bidder, squeezing out good she said councils were driving down prices due to inadequate government funding."What we've got is state-sponsored labour exploitation," she added. "This is a public scandal."The government spokesperson said it had boosted social care funding this year and would introduce a fair pay agreement for care staff under broader Townson said the pay agreement was a long way off and would not work without a big injection of cash.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- Yahoo
6 overrated wedding traditions, according to wedding planners
In the US, common wedding traditions include the bride wearing white and guests throwing rice. However, some traditions have lost their appeal in modern times. Wedding planners told BI they think garter and bouquet tosses are overrated. It's no secret that weddings are expensive. In 2025, the average cost of a wedding in the US is $36,000 — a 24% increase from 2023's $29,000, reported Zola, an online wedding registry, planner, and retailer. With these costs, many couples are choosing to rethink their wedding-day priorities, forgoing tradition in the name of comfort and cost. Business Insider spoke with three wedding planners to learn which traditions have lost or are losing their appeal. Here are six traditions they think are overrated. Sleeping apart the night before the wedding The tradition of spending one's wedding eve apart stems from marriage's roots as a contractual obligation rather than a romantic one, Brides reported. Keeping the couple apart until the wedding was a way to ensure the bride's virginity and create some mystery before the ceremony, as many unions were arranged. But in 2019, the Pew Research Center reported that nearly half (48%) of adults in the US believe couples who live together before marriage have a better chance of having a successful relationship. With more couples living together before tying the knot, the tradition has lost some appeal. "You don't need to change that dynamic of your relationship for one day," Lara Mahler, founder and owner of The Privilege Is Mine, told BI in 2024. "So it's like, wake up next to your partner. Also, why pay $1,000 for a hotel suite, you know, so that one person can stay in there?" "Eat breakfast the way that you do together. If you like to work out together, go work out," she added. "Do those things that will make you feel comfortable and give you that sense of security." Brides feeling forced to wear white The white wedding dress tradition was popularized nearly two centuries ago when Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in 1840. Before her fashion statement, most brides wore colorful dresses that could be worn for other occasions, Vanity Fair reported. Conversely, brides who wore white did so as a symbol of wealth because it denoted their dresses could be cleaned. Although white remains the primary color for bridalwear, more brides are beginning to favor color or other traditional variations like ivory and blush. "We'll see a lot of white dresses, which I think is a nice tradition," said Jennifer Taylor, founder and creative director of A Taylored Affair. "But if someone says that they don't really wear white ever and it just doesn't feel like them, wearing white, I say, 'Then don't wear white. Let's find something fabulous that you feel amazing in.'" She estimated in 2024 that about 15% of brides she works with choose a color other than white. Bridesmaids wearing matching dresses Bridesmaid dresses can be a major point of contention when planning a wedding, especially for couples with large wedding parties. That's why Lauren Zizza, founder of Lauren Zizza Events, recommends letting bridesmaids choose dresses they feel most comfortable in. "I think that women especially are self-conscious about their bodies, and no woman would look the same in any dress that a bridesmaid would have to wear," she said. Instead, she recommends letting bridesmaids choose their own shape or style, perhaps in a color selected by the bride. "It photographs really well, too," Zizza added. "Everyone has different personalities and different styles and that shows through in a wedding party." Walking down the aisle with only your father In line with marriage's roots, fathers walking their daughters down the aisle once represented a transfer of ownership. While some brides still follow tradition, others have looked for ways to reinvent that portion of the ceremony by walking in with their mothers and fathers, other family members, or alone. "It's a nice tradition when you have a good relationship with your father," Taylor said. But those who don't can "end up with a lot of guilt." "It's turmoil, having to think, 'Do I have him walk me down the aisle anyway? Do I not? What do I do?' So again, it's to each their own," she said. Another untraditional option couples are beginning to favor is walking into the ceremony together. Mahler said, "The symbol to that is we are walking — we are making this decision — together. They're walking down the aisle together." Tossing the garter There's a lot to unpack with this wedding tradition. Per The Knot, a bride's garter has been a symbol of good luck since the Middle Ages, so it became customary to throw it to guests. However, since garters were traditionally worn to keep up stockings, they could also represent a bride losing her virginity. Over time, the garter toss has become the male equivalent of the bouquet toss, but both have largely lost their appeal, with some couples now viewing the traditions as unnecessarily gendered, and even embarrassing. "People don't even usually bring it up as an option. They don't even have any interest in doing it," Taylor said. "But if I have a client say they want to do a garter toss, I say, 'OK, let's make it happen,' because it's about them and what they want. If a client says, 'Do I need to do a garter toss?' I say, 'Absolutely not. You absolutely do not need to do a garter toss. If you'd like to do one, I'm happy to facilitate that, but it's totally not something anyone's gonna miss, or you're gonna think that you wish you should have done in 25 years,'" she added. Tossing the bouquet Similarly to the garter toss, a bride's bouquet was considered good luck, so she'd throw it to the unmarried women in attendance with the idea that whoever caught it would be the next to wed. However, in modern times, the tradition has faded. Mahler estimated in 2024 that she'd only done five bouquet tosses in her eight years as a wedding planner. Zizza said, "I think nowadays, especially in a post-COVID world, people don't go according to order or according to plan. So implying that catching the bouquet would make you the next one to get married is just very, very silly." Taylor agreed that it was an outdated tradition. "To me, it feels like singling out single women who are already getting asked all the time when they're going to find 'the one,' or when they're going to get married, which they're probably thinking about all the time anyway," she said. "So to put the pressure on these women, it seems … yeah, it's not my favorite." The most important thing, though, is the couple's happiness. "It is not my job to judge or make assumptions," Mahler said. "I'm not going to be the wedding planner that's like, 'No, don't do that, that's stupid,' but I also just want to let people know that there are alternative ways of doing things so if they're opting to do this because they don't know any other way, then it's my job to tell them what those other ways are," she said. Taylor added, "It's putting a spin on some of these traditions that can make it fun." Read the original article on Business Insider
Los Angeles Times
04-06-2025
- General
- Los Angeles Times
Wedding Registries and How to Ask for Gifts You Actually Want
LA Times Studios may earn commission from purchases made through our links. Let's talk about wedding registries. Specifically, how to build one that reflects your actual life, not just a checklist from a wedding website or home store. As you know, many couples live together before marriage and already own the basics. So it's no surprise that you may want to skip the request for an espresso machine or toaster in favor of more meaningful, practical, or experience-based gifts. That said, there's an art to asking for what you want, especially when it comes to money, large ticket items, or nontraditional registries. Money requests can feel awkward, but more and more couples are asking for it and guests are warming up to the idea. The key comes down to presentation. Instead of writing 'cash preferred,' consider using registry platforms like Zola, Honeyfund, or The Knot, which allow you to allocate contributions toward specific goals such as a new mattress, a down payment, or a Parisian cooking class. Framing cash as a contribution to a shared experience or milestone makes it feel thoughtful and intentional rather than transactional. If you're including this option on your wedding website or invitation, you can say something like:'Your presence is the greatest gift of all. But if you'd like to contribute to our honeymoon or future together, we've included a few ways to help us build our dream life.' Alternatively, if you do want to request cash as a gift, wording such as: 'Your presence at our celebration is the only gift we need. But if you feel inclined, we'd be grateful for any contribution toward helping us build our home together. Honeymoon funds are currently one of the most popular forms of registries. But instead of a single lump-sum ask, I suggest that you break the ask down into elements or experiences related to the honeymoon such as: airfare, hotel stays, a bottle of wine in Santorini, a couples' massage in Tulum, etc. Guests love to feel like they're gifting an experience rather than just giving money. Adding personal notes about why you want to experience said request together can make the ask even more meaningful. That beautiful sofa you've been eyeing? Put it on the list. Many registry sites (and stores like Pottery Barn or Crate & Barrel) offer completion discounts — sometimes up to 20% — for any items left unpurchased after the wedding. Even if no one buys the couch, it's still worthwhile to add it to your registry. And you might be surprised as some guests love going in on group gifts for something really special. Even if you're dreaming of a cash fund or a trip to Bali, not every guest will feel comfortable giving money. And some people, especially those of different generations, really want to give something they can wrap and see in your home next time they visit. Registering for a few tangible items like serving trays, candlesticks or other entertaining items can be a thoughtful way to honor those preferences while still curating items you actually want in your home. If giving back is part of your love story, you might invite guests to make a donation to a cause close to your heart. Nonprofit registry sites like The Good Beginning make it easy to set up a philanthropic registry. This route is especially meaningful for second marriages, couples who already have everything, or those planning celebrations where they truly do not want a gift but would love to use their wedding to inspire a little generosity in the world. A registry isn't about asking for 'stuff'. It's about sharing your vision for this new chapter of your life. Whether that means a dream honeymoon, a cozy home, or making the world a little better together, it's okay to ask for what you truly want. Just make sure to offer a variety of options, and to always express gratitude.
IOL News
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- IOL News
Nozipho Ntshangase's heartbreak: Husband Zola marries second wife
Reality TV star Nozipho Ntshangase. Image: Instagram Nozipho Ntshangase's husband of 17 years, Zola, married his second wife, 25-year-old Misokuhle, this weekend. Last year, the reality TV star, who has eight children with her husband, shared that she was not in favour of the union. On The Mommy Club, Nozipho openly expressed her heartbreak regarding Zola's intention to take a second wife, stating, "The plan has changed to bring me pain and to bring my kids pain. I'm not happy with the plan". Last year, a video showing a heated argument between Zola and his family, including Nozipho and their children, went viral. In the video, Zola demanded his car keys to leave the house, while Nozipho insisted she needed the vehicle to take the children to school. The argument escalated, with Zola accusing his sons of ganging up on him. The fact that he went ahead and married his second wife has sparked debate among South Africans. The public reaction has been largely sympathetic towards Nozipho, with many criticising Zola for proceeding with the marriage despite her clear objections. Facebook user, Yolokazi Chagi, shared a post telling women to prioritise themselves when it comes to relationships. Yolokazi Chagi tells women to put themselves first. Image: Facebook screenshot The post shows images from Zola and Misokuhle's wedding as well as a picture of Nozipho and their children. Chagi writes, 'If as a woman you are not taking notes from these celebrity marriages I don't know uba at what point will u learn that men will choose themselves and their happiness over their children & wife of years. When it's time for him to pack nothing will ever make him change his mind so nawe as a woman do not be blinded by love,always put your goals and dreams before indoda because he can switch up anytime if he wants to and not even God will stop him once he finds new love (emoji)' Many women took to the comment section agreeing with the Chagi. 'Absolutely… focus ladies, focus', responded one person. 'Men will leave you in the desert WITHOUT WATER,' commented another woman. Another felt sorry for his new wife, saying, 'I feel for that woman because he is gonna show her flames, but it's safe to say she deserved everything coming her way.' Misokuhle has gone on Instagram to share images from the wedding day. Misokuhle on her wedding day. Image: Instagram screenshot Get your news on the go, click here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel. IOL Entertainment
