Before the 2024 election, Sir Keir Starmer said: “Immigration has got to come down… we will control our borders and make sure British businesses are helped to hire Brits first.”
His intentions were nothing new – in fact, previous prime ministers – and ministers – have said the same.
However, the reality is that the UK is seeing ever increasing rates of migration according to the ONS. And this is despite legislation that places swingeing penalties on employers who take on illegal workers and landlords who rent to the same.
Illegal working is a problem for many sectors, including automotive as CAT has previously reported on, most recently in March (2025) when we detailed that 44 hand car washes had been collectively fined £2.9m.
But Matthew Davies a partner, and head of business immigration, at Wright Hassall, says that “the current Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper has promised more action” on the subject.
In particular, he draws attention to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill 2025 that “heralds a ‘framework of new, enhanced powers and offences’ to detect and tackle immigration crime, a major boost to enforcement operations, and the continued removal of foreign criminals and people with no right to be in the UK.”
He adds that there will be increased thresholds for salaries for sponsored workers and increases in immigration fees “to encourage employers to look for resident staff by loading costs onto the immigration process”.
And as recently as 12 May, Starmer announced changes that include English tests for all visa applicants and their adult dependants, as well as a longer route to settled status.
But for the moment, employers need to contend with the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 that Mark Stevens, a legal director at VWV, says “requires employers verify the immigration status of their employees to ensure that they are legally allowed to work in the UK.”
Stevens comments that over the years, “the requirements for these checks have evolved and become more rigorous, with the introduction of the online Right to Work Checking Service in 2019 being the most recent development.”
These checks are a crucial part of immigration control. Effectively employers must ensure that their staff have the legal right to work in the UK before they commence employment. Failure to do so can lead to severe legal and financial penalties.
Notably, the rules are constantly changing and so employers must follow the framework in place at the time of hiring to assess whether appropriate checks have taken place – it’s all on gov.uk or a lawyer can advise, but it all hinges on seeing the right documentation. Further, the rules must be applied to everyone whether British citizen, EU national, or from elsewhere.
For those that ignore the rules Stevens says there’s the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 which imposes a civil penalty for employing someone without permission to work in the UK. Worse, he says that “if an employer takes on someone, knowing or having ‘reasonable cause to believe’ that person did not have the appropriate immigration status, they will be committing a criminal offence.”
However, he reassures when he says that “if the employer can demonstrate compliance, they may avoid penalties or prosecution, even if the employee was later found to be working illegally.”
As to the penalties, in February 2024, the civil penalty was increased to a maximum £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach, and a maximum £60,000 per illegal worker for repeat breaches.
Additionally, Stevens says that “criminal prosecution can result in an unlimited fine or up to five years in prison - or both.”
And for the illegal worker, they will likely be removed and their earnings seized.
Summary
The law has been very clear on the subject of illegal working for some time and employers that play fast and loose with the system can expect trouble with large fines and possible prison time.
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