Home Office announces crackdown on illegal working and rogue employers in ‘gig economy’

In the latest move to restore order to the asylum and immigration system, the Government will introduce tough new laws to clamp down on illegal working.

Companies hiring people in the gig economy will now be legally required to carry out checks confirming that anyone working in their name is eligible to work in the UK, bringing them in line with other employers. These vital checks – which take just minutes to complete – confirm someone's immigration status and allow them to legally work in the UK.

This means that for the very first time, employment checks will be extended to cover businesses hiring gig economy and zero-hours workers in sectors like construction, food delivery, beauty salons and courier services.

Currently, thousands of companies using these flexible arrangements are not legally required to check the status of these workers. This changes now.

Where businesses fail to carry out these checks, they will face hefty penalties already in place for those hiring illegal workers in traditional roles, including fines of up to £60,000 per worker, business closures, director disqualifications and potential prison sentences of up to five years.

Expanding illegal working checks will help level the playing field for the majority of honest companies who do the right thing. For example, Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats already voluntarily carry out checks to ensure their delivery riders are eligible to work.

Clamping down on illegal working forms a critical part of the Government's plan to strengthen the entire immigration system, restoring tough enforcement of the rules and undermine people smugglers using the false promise of jobs for migrants.

The announcement comes a day before the UK holds the first ever Organised Immigration Crime Summit – bringing together over 40 countries to agree unprecedented new international action to take down every aspect of criminal smuggling gangs' tactics.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: 

“Under our Plan for Change, we are restoring order to the asylum and immigration system by introducing tougher laws and bolstering enforcement action to tackle illegal working and stopping rogue employers in their tracks.

"Turning a blind eye to illegal working plays into the hands of callous people smugglers trying to sell spaces on flimsy, overcrowded boats with the promise of work and a life in the UK.

“These exploitative practices are often an attempt to undercut competitors who are doing the right thing. But we are clear that the rules need to be respected and enforced.

"These new laws build on significant efforts to stop organised immigration crime and protect the integrity of our borders, including increasing raids and arrests  for illegal working and getting returns of people who have no right to be here to their highest rate in half a decade.”

Claire Pointon, Managing Director, Just Eat UK and Ireland said:

“Just Eat is committed to supporting high streets and communities by ensuring a fair and well-regulated rapid delivery sector. Preventing unauthorised work is key to this, which is why we're strengthening our measures by introducing biometric checks to swiftly remove those without the correct authorisation to work in the UK. We welcome this decision from the Home Office to expand these requirements to other sectors.”

A Deliveroo spokesperson said:

“Deliveroo has led the industry in taking action to secure our platform against illegal working, developing our approach in close collaboration with the Home Office. We were the first to roll out direct right to work checks, a registration process, daily identity verification and now additional device checks for riders, including substitutes. We take our responsibilities extremely seriously and will continue to strengthen our controls to prevent misuse of our platform. We welcome the Government taking action to ensure all businesses and sectors adopt the same standards.”

An Uber Eats spokesperson said:

“Uber Eats is fully committed to fighting illegal work and the criminal networks who are often behind it, including by introducing state of the art identity and document video verification technology and mandatory substitute registration. We welcome efforts to enable and enforce further controls, and create a level playing field across the sector.”

The checks take minutes to complete, and the Home Office provide this free of charge, with businesses able to utilise digital ID verification technology to support the process. There is also support in place for employers with enquiries about the process.

The new laws further build on measures announced in November to equip Immigration Enforcement teams with new technology. From May, body worn cameras will be rolled out to officers on the front-line tackling illegal working and organised immigration crime. Backed by £5milllion, this will help officers collect evidence to support prosecutions and make sure exploitative businesses undermining our immigration system are held to account.

The new measures go alongside a ramp-up of operational action by Immigration Enforcement teams, who since July have carried out 6,784 illegal working visits to premises and made 4,779 arrests – an increase of 40% and 42% compared to the same period 12 months prior. In that time, 1,508 civil penalty notices have been issued.

This also follows wider measures within the legislation announced earlier this month to impose tougher restrictions on foreign criminals whose removal we are pursuing but that we are presently unable to deport. This includes the use of electronic tags, night-time curfews and exclusion zones. Breaching these conditions would be grounds for arrest and the individual could face imprisonment.

The measures will help ensure the Home Office maintains close contact with individuals and makes it very clear that they should not become established in the UK, as the intention remains to remove them when possible.  

Tomorrow (31 March 2025), the Home Secretary will convene key government and law enforcement leads at the UK's two-day landmark international Organised Immigration Crime Summit.

This will include Immigration Enforcement, the Department for Business and Trade, the Gangmasters Labour Abuse Authority and the National Crime Agency, holding a roundtable to discuss the importance of shutting down illegal working and government's ongoing surge in operational activity.

The Summit will bring together leaders from across the globe, with the aim of securing international commitments to intensify efforts against organised immigration crime gangs.   

ENDS 

Notes to Editors:   

·         Under UK legislation, access to work is reserved to those who have lawful immigration status to work in the UK.

·         Checking eligibility to work take takes a matter of minutes with online tools, saving law abiding employers valuable time and money.

·         A full consultation with industry on the new checks will also take place following Royal Assent of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.

·         Eligibility to work checks are also known as Right to Work checks.

·         The new proposals will be tabled as an amendment to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill. It will set out a new legal requirement to carry out an eligibility on workers and individual sub-contractors providing a service in a company's name.

·         The current process on how to conduct these checks is set out on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-work-checks-employers-guide

·         The Home Office's Employer Enquiry helpline is available for businesses that need further information on how to carry out these checks. 

·         The Home Office can also arrange online training. 

·         Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats have worked closely with the Home Office to introduce checks on whether registered substitutes used by their riders can legally work.

·         For more information contact the Home Office Newsdesk on 0300 123 3535 or out of hours on 07623 514 628.