If you are found to be employing an illegal worker or a migrant who has no right to work in the UK, you could face severe penalties. These can include a fine of up to £20,000 per worker, a prison sentence of up to five years, or both. Employers who hire people who are not entitled to work in the UK risk a civil penalty of up to £20,000 per worker. The criminal liability of employers should also not be forgotten. Employers can be sentenced to five years in prison and an unlimited fine if found guilty of employing a person they knew or had reasonable reason to believe had no right to work in the UK.
This increase in civil penalties for employers is a serious step by the Home Office in its approach to cracking down on illegal work in the UK. The consequences of employing illegal workers can be serious, but employers who have established a legal excuse by properly performing a right-to-work check will be exempt from the civil penalties detailed below. The ever-expanding “Department of Immigration Control” is gaining momentum as the Government continues to promise to crack down on illegal work and severe penalties will be imposed on employers who intentionally employ illegal workers or those who unknowingly employ illegal workers without carrying out the correct “due diligence” controls. It is illegal for an employer to hire a person for any position if they are disqualified from performing the job in question because of their immigration status. If an employer is found to have hired an illegal worker, there is also a risk of damaging the company's reputation. The Home Office imposes civil penalties once it discovers that an employer employs a person who is not allowed to work in the UK.
Civil penalties for illegal work cover the situation in which an employer unknowingly hires a person who does not have the necessary permission to perform the work in question. The civil sanctions regime applies equally to all employers of migrant workers, affecting both employers who choose to ignore their obligations and the most diligent employers who “unknowingly” hire illegal personnel, for example, due to a failure in their onboarding processes. This increase in penalties is not limited only to employers of illegal workers, but extends to landlords who allow illegal immigrants rent their properties.
