Beauty salons, car washes, building sites and restaurants are going to be targeted in a new crackdown on illegal working in Labour’s latest measures to tackle abuses of the immigration system.
The moves will see business bosses face fines of £60,000 per illegal worker, company directors being disqualified, and potential prison sentences of up to five years.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper is to unveil plans to tackle problems in the so called ‘gig economy’ to prevent undocumented workers doing cash in hand jobs to get round the migration system.
Ms Cooper said: “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.”
It comes after Labour has taken a harder than expected approach in its first nine months to try to tackle the so-called migrant crisis.
While still cancelling Tory hardline measures such as the deportation flights to Rwanda and some elements of child detention, Ms Cooper has focussed on increasing migrant returns, stopping illegal working and tackling the smuggling gangs.
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.
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, however this will now change.
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
Expanding illegal working checks will help level the playing field for the majority of honest companies who do the right thing.
Currently companies like Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats already voluntarily carry out checks to ensure their delivery riders are eligible to work.
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 £5m, 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 per cent and 42 per cent compared to the same period 12 months prior. In that time, 1,508 civil penalty notices have been issued.
