Delegates from a range of Cambridge businesses joined immigration solicitor Anne Morris at a workshop looking at current business immigration issues, including how to avoid a civil penalty for illegal working.
In the last three months of 2016 alone, the Home Office issued £11.5million in fines to employers for illegal working.
Under Home Office Scrutiny
UK employers must conduct right to work checks on all employees to verify they have the necessary permissions to take up employment in the UK.
If found in breach of their immigration duties, employers face:
- Fines of up to £20,000 per illegal worker
- Inclusion on the Home Office list of offending employers
- Implications for sponsor licence renewal and future Home Office applications
- Revoked business licences
- Disqualification from National Insurance employment allowance for 12 months
- Criminal prosecution
The Home Office is becoming increasingly vigilant in investigating employers’ immigration practices, with a growing number of site inspections - both planned and unannounced – taking place.
And with Brexit dominating the business agenda, and changes to UK immigration policy on the horizon, the challenge for HR professionals and operations managers in staying up-to-date with immigration rules has become more acute.
Top tips for avoiding a Home Office fine
How can employers approach their immigration duties and avoid being issued a civil penalty for illegal employment?
- An immigration audit of HR and on-boarding systems and processes will help to identify areas of weakness and non-compliance, and provide recommendations on how to improve policies and procedures to ensure compliance with legislation. Businesses should review or audit their immigration processes at least every two years to ensure they remain compliant with the latest changes.
- A common area of vulnerability for employers is keeping up to date with the immigration rules, as they are constantly changing. This is particularly topical with a Brexit deal on EU workers' rights imminent. HR professionals should sign up to receive updates on immigration changes, engaging with external immigration specialists for guidance where required given the highly technical nature of many of the rules changes.
- The civil penalty regime applies to both employers who choose to ignore their obligations as well as employers who unknowingly hire illegal personnel through for example a lack of internal knowledge. Knowledge of internal teams and key personnel can be improved with immigration compliance training. Up-skilling and enhancing your in-house capability through immigration compliance training will help improve efficiencies and minimise compliance risk.
Fundamentally, it is important to be proactive and take reasonable steps that will ensure compliance with immigration rules to avoid falling foul of Home Office scrutiny and being faced with a civil penalty.
DavidsonMorris will be hosting further free-to-attend business immigration seminars, in September. Please contact anne.morris@davidsonmorris.co.uk for more information.
____________________________________________