Penalties For Employing Illegal Workers Tripled From 13 February 2024 – Employee Rights/ Labour Relations

Businesses found employing workers without a right to work can
now be fined up to £45,000 per worker for a first breach, and
up to £60,000 for repeated breaches. This is a threefold
increase, and the first in almost a decade.

What is illegal working?

It is illegal to employ someone who does not have the right to
work in the UK. Workers that are British, Irish, or settled in the
UK have an indefinite and unrestricted right to work. Visa holders
with time-limited permission will normally be permitted to work in
the UK while their visa is valid, but some visas limit or prohibit
work entirely.

Employers have an obligation to prevent illegal working and
those in contravention of their obligations may be liable for civil
penalties and/or criminal sanctions.

Civil penalties

A civil penalty is a fine levied against an employer found to be
employing workers without a right to work. The maximum penalty for
a first-time breach has increased from £15,000 per worker to
£45,000 per worker. Repeat offending employers will be fined
up to £60,000 per worker, up from £20,000.

Sponsor licence holders that fail to comply with their illegal
working prevention obligations will also be in breach of their
sponsor duties. Civil penalties can result in the downgrading or
even revocation of an employer’s sponsor licence.

Criminal sanctions

Individuals can also be sent to prison for up to five years and
may be liable for an unlimited fine if they’re found guilty of
employing someone they knew or had “reasonable cause to
believe” did not have the right to work in the UK.

The consequences of employing illegal workers are
significant.

What should employers do?

To comply with their obligations to prevent illegal working,
employers must carry out right to work checks on all prospective
employees before their employment starts. An employer is excused
from liability to pay a civil penalty if they can show they carried
out valid right to work checks and retained records to prove that
the checks were conducted correctly. This is known as a statutory
excuse.

Employers should ensure that their onboarding and right to work
checking processes are thorough enough to identify potential
illegal workers before they start employment.

Other right to work changes

A worker sponsored by one employer is allowed (from an
immigration perspective – not always from a employment
perspective) to take supplementary employment with another
employer. This supplementary employment is separate from that
specified on the person’s certificate of sponsorship and is
permissible provided:

• they continue to work for their main sponsor;




• the supplementary employment is in a role that is eligible for
  Skilled Worker sponsorship; and




• it is for no more than 20 hours per week.

The concept of supplementary employment is not new, but the Home
Office has now updated its employer’s guide to right to work
checks to clarify exactly what employers are
expected to do to verify if a prospective sponsored worker being
offered supplementary employment has the right to work.

The guidance recommends obtaining a letter from the worker’s
current sponsor, confirming:

• they’re still working for their sponsor;




• the job description and occupation code of their sponsored
  employment; and




• their normal working hours.

Employers are also urged to ask potential employees if they are
undertaking any other supplementary employment with another
employer to ensure that they will not be doing more than 20 hours
per week in total of supplementary employment.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.