Increases in compliance visits and enforcement

The Home Office recently revealed that it has increased the amount of enforcement action which it is taking against businesses which employ migrants without the right to work in the UK. In particular, the number of illegal working compliance visits to businesses is up by a third since July 2024, with the number of arrests increasing by 25% compared to the same period in 2023.

While many of these visits are targeted at small businesses such as nail bars and car washes, the Home Office has also been targeting supermarkets and employers in the construction and care sectors.

This is all part of a re-focussing of the Government's approach towards enforcement of right to work and immigration rules, with the aim of reducing net migration.

Tougher rules for sponsor licence holders

The increase in general enforcement action comes alongside proposed tougher penalties targeted at businesses with immigration sponsor licences. The penalties are designed for repeated breaches of not just the immigration rules but also wider employment breaches such as failures in relation to National Minimum Wage requirements.

Under the current rules, sponsor licence holders can have their licence revoked and be prevented from applying for a new licence for 12 months. The Home Office has announced plans to double that period to 2 years for licence holders who commit repeat offences.

Where breaches are less serious, the current rules allow the Home Office to downgrade a licence temporarily for 3 months and put in place an action plan to assist the sponsor licence holder with improving its performance. The sponsor licence holder is not permitted to sponsor any new migrant workers during this period.  The Home Office is planning to quadruple the length of these action plans, up to 12 months, to ensure sustained compliance with immigration rules. For many sponsor licence holders, being unable to sponsor new migrant workers for a period of 12 months will be seriously disruptive to business operations.

Care sector focus

The Home Office's plans were announced jointly with the Department of Health and Social Care, which indicates that there will continue to be a particular focus on sponsors in the health and care sector. The health and care sector has been under scrutiny from the Home Office for some time, and we have seen evidence of a strict approach being taken during compliance visits to sponsor licence holders in the health and care sector particularly.

What it means for employers

For all employers, now is the time to ensure that right to work checking procedures and records are up to date and compliant with Home Office requirements. The civil penalty for employing illegal workers is now up to £60,000 per illegal worker (triple the previous penalty), meaning there is a clear financial incentive to ensure compliance.

For sponsor licence holders, this is a reminder that not only is it important to ensure compliance with right to work checking and record-keeping requirements, but that wider employment law compliance is also essential. Home Office compliance officers will take a broad view when conducting compliance visits, and the potential penalty of a sponsor licence being suspended, downgraded or revoked could have a significant negative effect.

We have a team of experienced experts that assist employers in understanding their obligations in relation to migrant workers and the actions they can take to reduce the risk of compliance breaches and enforcement action by the Home Office. For more information about our Immigration services or to schedule a meeting with one of our experts, please contact us.