Preventing Illegal Working

Employing illegal migrant workers

The UK Borders Agency have introduced a regime of offences relating to the employment of illegal migrant workers. These measures introduce for the first time a two-pronged approach to tackling illegal working:

• a system of civil penalties for those employers who employ illegal migrant workers as a result of negligent recruitment and employment practices; and
• a tough new criminal offence, which carries a maximum two-year prison sentence and/or an unlimited fine for those employers found to be knowingly employing illegal migrant workers.