Companies to be named and shamed for hiring illegal workers

Companies that employ illegal migrant workers are to be named and shamed as part of the Government’s continuing campaign to control immigration.

It’s part of a new initiative by the Home Office which will involve reorganising 7,500 UK Border Agency (UKBA) officers and staff into more than 70 Local Immigration Teams. They will work alongside the police to tackle the different forms of immigration crime at local level.

The Government’s plans are set out in a document entitled, Enforcing the Deal. Businesses that flout the rules will be targeted jointly by the UKBA and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs who will share intelligence about offenders. One of their priorities will be to carry out 5,000 operations in 2008/09 to identify and penalise organisations such as businesses, colleges and facilitators who break the law.

UKBA will publish the names of businesses found to be employing illegal workers.

Companies already face fines of up to £10,000 for each illegal worker. By May this year, 137 businesses had been issued with Notices of Potential Liability amounting to almost half a million pounds. There were only 11 successful prosecutions throughout the whole of last year under the previous system.

Any business employing migrant workers needs to ensure they comply with Points Based System (PBS) for controlling immigration which was introduced in February. Failure to comply could result in large fines and the embarrassment of having the company named and shamed.