Jump to content

Preventing illegal working

This page provides information for United Kingdom employers about the prevention of illegal migrant working.

Illegal working hurts good business, undercuts legal workers and creates illegal profits. It also puts illegal workers themselves at great risk. By working together with employers we can level the playing field and tackle the exploitation of vulnerable migrants.

Complying with the law

Employers should check all prospective employees' entitlement to work in the United Kingdom, or they risk breaking the law. The checks that should be, or have been undertaken depend on when the employee is, or was recruited. Employers can find details on these pages about their current legal responsibilities and check whether they complied with law when taking on employees in the past.

Checking identity cards for foreign nationals

This page explains the identity cards we will start to issue to some categories of foreign nationals from 25 November 2008 and your obligation to check these identity cards.

Civil penalties for employers

While we seek to work with employers to enable compliance with the legislation, we reserve the right to publish the details of employers who have been found liable for the payment of a civil penalty for employing illegal migrant workers.

Support for employers

The overwhelming majority of employers and migrants to the United Kingdom are law-abiding and wish to comply with their legal obligations. We are keen to support them and make this as simple as possible. These pages provide details of the advice and information available to employers on employing migrant workers in hard copy, over the telephone and online.

Engagement with employers

The Government maintains regular dialogue with employers and other key stakeholders on illegal working and related issues through the Illegal Working Group, details of which are available on this page.

Back to top