Your organisation may face a range of tough sanctions if you are found to be employing individuals who do not have the appropriate right to work for you.
You can avoid this by ensuring full right to work checks are conducted in keeping with the latest Home Office guidance. We provide specialist advice on the range of illegal working offences and how to avoid them, also how to respond if you fall foul. Following a slow-down during the pandemic, the Home Office has resumed compliance visits and official figures already show a big rise in enforcement visits and penalties too.
Fines are set to more than triple for employers and landlords who employ or rent to those without permission to work or rent – in the biggest shake up of civil penalties since 2014, the Home Office has announced. These higher penalties will commence from the start of 2024.
The civil penalty for employers, last increased in 2014, will be raised from up to £15,000 to up to £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach. The fine for repeated breaches will be increased from £20,000 to up to £60,000.
Employers can fall foul of illegal working enforcement with common simple mistakes such as conducting a right to work check after a new employee has started work (including as part of their induction on their first day).
There are simple steps to avoid civil penalties using the post-pandemic system of digital and physical Right to Work checks in place since last October. There is no suggestion that these will be changing again with the new penalties.
If you want any more details regarding Right to Work checks, sponsoring migrant workers, or for a review of your compliance procedures, please feel free to contact us to discuss. The team are highly regarded for business immigration in all major legal guides and are experienced in working closely with different sectors and firms of all sizes from start ups to big multinational brands. According to The Times Best Law Firms: “Clients include global corporations looking for a British footprint, sponsorship advice or insights about transferring staff to the UK. The firm has established contacts among Home Office policymakers.”
The legislation and guidance around illegal working can be complex.
Click here for our quick guide to protecting yourself with right to work best practice, based on the latest Home Office guidance.
Since 6 April 2022 employers are no longer permitted to accept some physical documents as evidence of right to work. This includes Biometric Residence Permits (BRP), Biometric Residence Cards issued to family members of EEA migrants under the EU Settlement Scheme and Frontier Worker Permits for EEA migrants. Employers will instead be expected to use the free UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) online checking tool for all biometric card holders.
There have been many changes to how right to work checks should be conducted over the past years, and if you have any concerns we can help audit your processes to check they were compliant at the time and therefor would protect you from prosecution.
We can advise you on all aspects of the ever-changing right to work check rules and how to avoid civil penalties, criminal sanction and related adverse consequences if you are a sponsor licence holder with specialist advice on carrying out fully compliant right to work checks.
To find out how we can help you please call us on 0207 033 9527 or click here to send us an email
Referral Notices and Civil Penalty Notices can be challenged, and we offer strategic advice, assist you to gather evidence and make representations on your behalf.
Being issued a Civil Penalty Notice could mean you lose your sponsor licence or face criminal proceedings and we offer specialist advice in such cases.
To find out how we can help you please call us on 0207 033 9527 or click here to send us an email
Employers may face a range of tough sanctions, both civil and criminal if they are found to be employing individuals who do not have the right to work.
Human Resources staff can avoid this by ensuring full right to work checks are conducted in keeping with the latest Home Office guidance. We provide specialist advice on illegal working offences, best practices to avoid them, how to mitigate and report lapses and also how to respond if you fall foul. Following a slow-down during the pandemic, the Home Office has resumed compliance visits and official figures show a big rise in penalties which can amount to up to £20,000 for each staff member illegally employed and are set to triple in 2024.
From 6 April 2022 employers are no longer permitted to accept some physical documents as evidence of right to work and instead are expected to use the free UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) online checking tool for all biometric card holders. The Home Office guidelines have also been updated with an appendix to support employers seeking guidance on what documentation Ukrainian nationals will need to prove their right to work.
Click here for our quick guide to protecting yourself with right to work best practice, based on the latest Home Office guidance.
To find out how we can help you keep on top of compliant right to work checks or to discuss any related UK immigration issues, please call us on 0207 033 9527 or click here to send us an email: