Bosses who hire migrants who don’t have the right to work in the UK could face fines of up to £60,000 under new government plans to deter Channel crossings.
The civil penalties for “unscrupulous” employers and landlords who help people live and work in the country illegally will be significantly increased, the Home Office has announced.
Bosses could be fined a maximum of up to £45,000 per worker for a first breach and up to £60,000 for repeat offenders, tripling both from the last increase in 2014.
Landlords who rent their properties to unauthorised migrants will face penalties of up to £5,000 per lodger and £10,000 per occupier for a first breach, up from £80 and £1,000 respectively.
Repeat breaches could cost them up to £10,000 per lodger, up from £500, and a maximum of £20,000 per occupier, up from £3,000.
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said: “Making it harder for illegal migrants to work and operate in the UK is vital to deterring dangerous, unnecessary small boat crossings.
“Unscrupulous landlords and employers who allow illegal working and renting enable the business model of the evil people smugglers to continue.
“There is no excuse for not conducting the appropriate checks and those in breach will now face significantly tougher penalties.”
Officials expect the hikes for those who break the rules to be in force from the start of next year after legislation is altered in the autumn.
Yvette Cooper, Labour’s shadow home secretary, said: “Employers who are exploiting and illegally employing migrant workers should face the full force of the law, but the reality is that under the Conservatives, the number of penalties issued to firms employing workers illegally has fallen by two-thirds since 2016, arrests have dropped and illegal working visits are down by over 1,000 on 2019.
“Labour has already promised stronger action on employment exploitation and we will look at more proposals to crack down on illegal working as part of our review of the points-based immigration system.”
The Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said: “Every day the country is subjected to another pointless announcement on the asylum system which will make no meaningful difference.
“A bolder fix is required by ministers, yet they are too arrogant to admit it.”
The government is framing the “biggest shake up” of civil penalties since 2014 as a part of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats”.
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But Sky News last week spoke to two men who came to the UK legally on student visas, who have now been forced to go underground, working cash-in-hand jobs to survive, after overstaying.
The investigation revealed the government could not provide exact data on the scale of those who overstay their visa and fail to return to their country of origin in the past three years.
The Home Office said immigration enforcement activity has been stepped up with more arrests made already this year than the whole of last year.
Since 2018, some 4,000 civil penalties, totalling £74m, have been issued to employers and more than 230, valued at £215,500, have been handed to landlords since 2018, according to the department.
It comes as Labour and the Conservatives trade blows over the small boat crisis and as asylum seekers prepare to arrive on the controversial Bibby Stockholm barge in Dorset “in the coming days”.
A further 77 people were detected arriving in two boats on Saturday, taking the Home Office’s provisional total for the year so far to 15,071.