Illegal Working and Employers Civil Penalties

Illegal Working and Employers Civil Penalties

Unless a person is a British Citizen, settled person with permanent residence or a member of the EEA (European Economic Area) or Switzerland, they are likely to need permission to work in the UK. The Government has set measures to prevent illegal working in UK markets and there is a positive duty on the employer to ensure that they employ people through legal means.

In order to better handle illegal working, the Government issued changes on 29th February 2008 of which employers must be aware. These changes are provided in the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 which sets out the law on preventing illegal working. It provides that:

Employers can be imposed with fines where they employ people over 16 who are not allowed to work

A code of practice has been introduced for UKBA officials to consider when calculating fines.

UKBA (UK Border Agency) routinely carries out enforcement and compliance checks at work places. Where they discover any illegal migrants working in the work place, they will issue the employer with a Notification of potential liability (NOPL). The UKBA civil penalty compliance team will then consider whether or not to issue a notification of liability (NOL) and a civil penalty on the employer. UK based employers are required by law to verify the immigration status of their employees. They can do this by checking one of the following:

Passport of the employee showing that the person is British or has a right of abode in the UK

Residence permit issued by UKBA to an EEA (European Economic Area) national.

Passport or travel document endorsed with indefinite leave to remain in the UK

Passport or other document endorsed with permission to work in the UK

Document showing a work permit or other visa category in which the person can work

Alternatively, employers can contact UKBA (employer checking service) to determine the potential employee's status or where for instance, the employee's documents are with the Home Office. UKBA provides two lists, List A and List B which contain documents that the employer needs to check before hiring an employee. Depending on the employee's situation, the employer may need to see a combination of documents from these lists and the documents must be originals. The employer is required to check the validity of the document including

Checking the photograph which must match the appearance of the potential employee

Checking the date of birth corresponds with other documents and appearance of employee

Checking the expiry dates of leave to remain/permission to work

Checking any endorsements (visa/stamps) to determine that the employee is eligible to do the work on offer

Being satisfied that the documents are genuine and that they have not been tampered with

If you have been served with a notice or liability (or potential ability) we can assist you by making representations to UKBA within the 28 days limit. There may be a whole range of factors which the compliance team could consider and this may result in them reducing any fine that is imposed or not imposing a fine but rather, issuing a warning letter (depending on the circumstances of the case). We can also assist with lodging an appeal against the fine where representations have not been accepted.

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