£10.5m Raised In Penalties In Q1 2017

The latest Home Office figures on illegal working fines are a timely warning for UK businesses to make sure they don’t fall foul of the laws in this area, says Irwin Mitchell.

In the most recent release of illegal working civil penalty data by the Office of National Statistics, it was revealed that penalties of around £10.5m have been issued during the first three months of 2017.

Lawyers at Irwin Mitchell say that the figures clearly highlight the dangers for companies if they get things wrong and call for firms to understand how vital it is that the relevant right to work checks are carried out and kept up to date.

Padma Tadi, an employment Solicitor at Irwin Mitchell and immigration law expert, said:

“Many businesses are caught out not because they are deliberately attempting to bring people into the UK on an illegal basis, but because they haven’t conducted the correct right to work checks. This could involve looking closely at the expiry date and specific conditions about what the individual is allowed to do whilst in the UK. Failure to do this, as highlighted the statistics, can be extremely costly. Businesses must get it right.”

The statistics highlighted that 681 penalties were issued during the three month period and according to the data, more than 55% of the revenue was raised in London and the South East where 502 illegal workers were found, and the total value of the fines amounted to £5.9m.