Employers need to carry out more thorough checks on job candidates as the number of fines for employing illegal workers doubled in 2009 according to data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by office solutions provider Giant Precision.
The Government introduced a new system in March 2008 to reduce the number of illegal workers in the UK. This gave the UK Border Agency the power to issue civil penalties of £10,000 to employers for every illegal worker.
In 2009, the UK Border Agency imposed 2,210 civil penalties on employers of illegal workers totalling £22.1 million. This is almost double the number of civil penalties issued in 2008 when 1,164 civil penalties were issued, worth £11.2 million in fines.
The year before the new civil penalty system was brought in, there were only 38 prosecutions for employing illegal workers. This means that there was a 2,963% increase in prosecutions in the first year of the new system alone.
Matthew Brown, Managing Director of Giant Precision, said: “These figures show that identity checking is fast becoming one of the biggest compliance risks for employers and recruitment suppliers.”
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