Mr Bob Ainsworth – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Bob Ainsworth on 2014-03-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what measures her Department has introduced in the last year to reduce the number of businesses employing illegal immigrants.

James Brokenshire

Employers have a duty to ensure that their employees have the right to work in the UK, and this duty has been underpinned by a civil penalty scheme since 2008. The government is taking measures to ensure a tougher response to employers who use illegal labour, whilst simplifying arrangements for legitimate businesses to conduct right to work checks.

To deter employers from using illegal workers, the Home Office is doubling the maximum penalty to £20,000. The government is also using the current Immigration Bill to make it easier to enforce unpaid civil penalties in the civil courts. In addition, with the creation of the new Immigration Enforcement Directorate last year, there has been a forty seven per cent increase in illegal working enforcement operations and a corresponding increase in civil penalties imposed: with 1862 penalties served in 2013/14 (to the end of February) compared to 1270 in 2012/13. We are also ensuring greater collaboration across government to increase our ‘enforcement reach’ and the range of sanctions that can be brought to bear against rogue employers who exploit illegal workers.