Mr Justice Foskett put the matter in perspective, pointing out their experiences were “a very long way from the kind of colonial exploitation of labour that led to the formulation of Article 4.”
Despite rejecting the “slavery” claim, the judge agreed that the Department for Work and Pensions had not been sufficiently clear on the rules of the schemes. There is still some concern about employers using the givernment to subsidise their businesses.
See our previous report here