Increased penalties for employing illegal workers

The process for enforcing fines through the civil courts will be simplified by registering penalty notices with the court, after which enforcement action could be commenced immediately, including pursuing directors and partners personally in the event of the non-payment of a civil penalty by the business.

The range of acceptable documents for checking purposes (‘List A’ and ‘List B’) will be reduced, with the aim of largely basing the checking system for non-EEA nationals around Biometric Residence Permits within three years. The annual follow-up checks on employees with time-limited permission to work in the UK will be removed, and the follow-up check date will be based on the expiry date of the current document(s) instead.

The plans are part of the Immigration Bill, currently progressing through Parliament, and are expected to be implemented in spring next year.