Employers urged to test ‘right to work’ procedures after fines tripled

Shara Pledger of Pinsent Masons was commenting after the Home Office announced plans for significant increases to illegal worker civil penalties. The changes will mean that businesses employing a worker without the appropriate right to work will be liable to pay fines starting at £45,000 per worker – up from the £15,000 penalty that currently can be levied for a first breach. Repeat offenders can anticipate fines of £60,000 per illegal worker they employ. The increase is due to take effect from the start of 2024.

Pledger said: “We recommend employers use the next few months to consider how robust their right to work checking procedures really are. While employment of an illegal worker can never be undone, it is much better to identify a problem yourself and resolve it than to be informed of offending through Home Office intelligence or a compliance visit. Early identification can lead to reduction of penalty and potentially even cancellation of penalty under the current scheme.”

The Home Office said that immigration enforcement levels, including in relation to illegal working, are now “at their highest levels since 2019”, up 50% on last year. It said more people had been arrested in 2023 than during the whole of 2022 as a result of this activity.

Pledger said employers can obtain help from legal advisers in evaluating and improving right to work checking procedures, including with undertaking full policy reviews and providing recommendations for improvement, conducting file audits and stress testing current practices, and obtaining bespoke team training as well as gaining access to guides and other information that can help staff when on carrying out right to checks.

“This is the ideal opportunity for employers to alleviate concerns and upgrade systems before the new penalties take effect,” Pledger said.