- Tougher fines for those enabling illegal working
- Higher penalties will help deter abuse of our laws
- Follows new data showing immigration enforcement visits have
doubled on last year
Fines are to be more than tripled for employers and landlords who
allow illegal migrants to work for them or rent their properties,
in the biggest shake-up of civil penalties since 2014, the Home
Secretary announced today (Monday 7 August).
The civil penalty for employers, which was last increased in
2014, will be raised to up to £45,000 per illegal worker for a
first breach from £15,000, and up to £60,000 for repeat breaches
from £20,000.
For landlords the fines will increase from £80 per lodger and
£1,000 per occupier for a first breach to up to £5,000 per lodger
and £10,000 per occupier. Repeat breaches will be up to £10,000
per lodger and £20,000 per occupier, up from £500 and £3,000
respectively. The higher penalties will come in at the start of
2024.
Later this year the Home Office will consult on options to
strengthen action against licensed businesses who are employing
illegal workers.
Since 2018, 4,000 civil penalties have been issued to employers
with a total value of £74m. Meanwhile, landlords have been hit
with over 230 civil penalties worth a total of £215,500 since
2018.
Minister for Immigration said:
“Making it harder for illegal migrants to work and operate in the
UK is vital to deterring dangerous, unnecessary small boat
crossings. Unscrupulous landlords and employers who allow illegal
working and renting enable the business model of the evil people
smugglers to continue.
“There is no excuse for not conducting the appropriate checks and
those in breach will now face significantly tougher
penalties.”
Illegal working and renting are significant pull factors for
migrants crossing the Channel, where people smugglers will
often use the promise of jobs and housing to lure people into
making these journeys. Increasing fines will deter employers and
landlords from engaging in these illegal and dangerous practices,
further deterring people from attempting to come to the UK
illegally.
It also undercuts honest employers, puts vulnerable people at
risk of exploitation, cheats legitimate job seekers out of
employment and defrauds the public purse as the businesses and
workers do not pay taxes.
Employers and landlords should already be checking the
eligibility of anyone they employ or let a property to. There are
a number of ways to do this, which are not changing, including
via a manual check of original documentation and a Home Office
online checking system. The online check takes only 5
minutes.
Today’s announcement follows the government’s crackdown on
illegal working and renting after it launched a Taskforce and
re-introduced data sharing with the financial sector to stop
illegal migrants from accessing bank accounts earlier this
year.
The cross-government ministerial Taskforce on immigration
enforcement ensures every available power across government is
utilised to support law enforcement activity to identify and
reduce illegal migrants in the UK, and ensures only those
eligible can work, receive benefits or access public
services.
Immigration Enforcement activity has been stepped up with visits
including those targeting illegal working, now at their highest
levels since 2019, up 50% on last year. We have already arrested
more people in 2023 than during the whole of 2022 as a result of
this activity.
