Illegal Working Civil Penalties have tripled - Are You compliant?

In 2016, I wrote the blog below following Prevention of Illegal Working Rule changes and Civil Penalty increases. Not much has changed in the last 9 years: (1) I’m still an Immigration Geek (2) the Home Office are still fining employers for Illegal Working (see here) and (3) businesses must still ensure that their immigration and right to work policies are up to date, effective and properly utilised. However, the penalties for hiring an illegal worker have increased significantly from a financial and compliance perspective with a maximum £45,000 civil penalty, per illegal worker, for a first breach, and a maximum £60,000 per illegal worker for repeat breaches (up from £20,000). Latest figures show that in 2024 over 200 employers received civil penalties, with 22 receiving fines of £100,000 or more and one employer fined £280,000.

The right to work checks have also become more complicated. To explain, the documentation required for each worker will depend on the legislation applicable at the time of their employment start date and their visa type. There are added compliance obligations if you are a sponsor licence holder, including carrying out right to work checks for self-employed staff. We can help you navigate this complex area with (1) an on-site audit to check your right to work documentation and processes; (2) bespoke right to work training; (3) ad-hoc advice on right to work queries; and (4) advice on challenging any Civil Penalty Notices.

“One Korma and Your Passport Please…”

If you are an absolute immigration geek like me, you will enjoy watching reality tv shows like “Nothing to Declare”, “UK Border Force” and “Passport Control”. So, it came as no surprise to hear the Border Agency (the law enforcement command within the Home Office) had raided yet another curry house over the weekend with the purpose of checking all of its staff had the proper right to work documentation and ultimately seeking to remove anyone found in the UK working illegally.

However, in this particular restaurant in Bournemouth the UKIP party leader candidate Lisa Duffy was having dinner with her staff when the Border Force popped in! Apparently, no action was taken against the curry house, which had completed its pre-employment checks. However, Ms Duffy described seeing one man run off. A spokesman for Ms Duffy said: "Watching our chef running away into the night, his apron flapping in the wind, was a surreal moment”.

With recent emphasis on the new Immigration Act 2016, which includes increasing penalties for employers who knowingly appoint an illegal worker, it’s important for businesses to have robust procedures in place for carrying out right to work checks and that these are distributed to all staff who are involved in any aspect of recruitment or management. Employers should also ensure that their immigration and right to work policies are up to date, effective and properly utilised.

The fear of receiving a Civil Penalty fine of up to £20,000 per illegal worker is now secondary to new harsher criminal sanctions for employers and the worker. Since 12 July 2016, the offence is committed if the employer knows, or has “reasonable cause to believe”, that a person is working illegally. This is a much lower legal threshold and comes with an increase in the maximum penalty, now up to five years’ imprisonment compared with the previous two.

For the illegal worker, the Act creates a new criminal offence and any work without appropriate permission could earn them up to six months’ imprisonment, a fine or both, and they could even have their earnings seized.

It’s therefore not surprising to hear that the chef legged it.