The Immigration Bill, which passed into law in May 2016, highlighted among other things the government’s tough new approach to tackling illegal working. As of 12 July 2016, provisions of the new Immigration Act which broaden the definition of what constitutes a criminal offence in relation to employing illegal workers came into force, meaning that carrying out full right to work checks before employees commence any work is now even more crucial for employers.

It is already a criminal offence to employ an illegal worker, but only if the employer knows for a fact that they are working illegally. From 12 July 2016 however, the offence is committed if the employer knows, or has “reasonable cause to believe”, that a person is working illegally – a much lower legal threshold. Together with the lower threshold comes an increase in the maximum penalty, now up to five years’ imprisonment compared with the current two.

Now, where an employer simply suspects illegal working, they should proactively investigate the individual’s immigration status in order to be satisfied that the relevant consents are in place. Allowing an individual to work during any period where there is a question mark over their status could result in criminal sanctions on top of the existing civil penalty of up to £20,000 per illegal worker.

For the workers themselves, the Act also creates a new criminal offence and any work without appropriate permission could earn them up to six months’ imprisonment, a fine or both. They could even have their earnings seized.

Employers would be wise to ensure that they have robust processes and procedures in place for carrying out right to work checks and that these are disseminated to all employees who are involved in recruitment and/or management of staff.

Our immigration team is available should you have any queries, training requirements or if you wish to arrange a compliance check of your HR systems.