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Civil penalties can be a serious threat to your business if you employ workers who are subject to immigration control.
If you are concerned about whether your employees have the right to work we can assist with and understanding their immigration status and advise on undertaking the required right to work checks.
If you have received a Referral Notice or Civil Penalty Notice, you need to take action quickly to seek to limit the damage to our business. There are statutory deadlines with which you need to respond and so the sooner you seek advice, the sooner we can assist you.
What is a civil penalty?
A civil penalty under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 is a fine that is given to an employer who knew or had ‘reasonable cause to believe’ that one of their employees did not have the right to work in the UK. Employers can also be penalised if they employ someone without doing the correct checks, or if they weren’t done properly.
An employee may not have the right to work in the UK for the following reasons:
- They did not have leave (permission) to enter or remain in the UK
- Their legal documents were incorrect or false
- Their leave had expired
- They were not permitted to do certain types of work
Employers must know what right-to-work checks they need to undertake. This ensures that they employ workers who have the right to work in the UK and have retained sufficient documents to be able to establish a statutory excuse to avoid a civil penalty.
The definition of employment is broad. It covers any work being undertaken on the premises whether paid or unpaid and whether subject to an employment contract or not.
How much is a Civil Penalty?
The amount depends on when the breach occurred.
Breaches that occur from 13 February 2024
The maximum Civil Penalty payable is £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach of the scheme and up to £60,000 per worker for a repeat breach.
Breaches that occurred before 13 February 2024
The maximum Civil Penalty payable is £15,000 per illegal worker for a first breach of the scheme and up to £20,000 per worker for a repeat breach.
MITIGATING FACTORS
A civil penalty can be reduced where mitigating factors are found.
There are three mitigating factors:
- Reporting suspicions about the alleged illegal worker(s)
- Actively cooperating with UKVI
- Having effective recruitment practices in place
These can potentially reduce a civil penalty by £5000 to £10,000 per worker.
Criminal sanctions
Employers can face a prison sentence of five years if they are believed to have knowingly employed illegal workers.
Can a Civil Penalty be challenged?
If a Civil Penalty Notice is issued an employer has a number of options:
- To challenge the Civil Penalty by way of an Objection – within 28 days
- To pay the Civil Penalty reduced by 30% by way of a Fast Payment – within 21 days
- To pay the full Civil Penalty – within 28 days – instalment arrangements are possible
There are limited Statutory Grounds upon which an objection to a Civil Penalty can be made.
If an Objection is made but the Civil Penalty imposed then it is possible to appeal to the County Court.
What if a Civil Penalty is not paid?
The Home Office will take debt recovery enforcement action through the County Court.
This will result in a County Court Judgement which will affect an employer’s credit rating.
Contact our immigration solicitors
Our immigration solicitors can advise on how to protect your business from civil penalties. We can also advise on challenging any civil penalty imposed by the Home Office.
We have a high success rate in achieving both the cancelling of civil penalty notices and reductions in civil penalties imposed on our clients.
You can talk to us by telephone on 0191 232 9547 (ext. 2307) or contact us by email at immigration.enquiries@davidgray.co.uk
Alternatively, you can book an appointment and visit us at one of our North East offices:
Newcastle:
56 Westgate Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 5XU
South Shields:
142 Fowler Street, South Shields, Tyne & Wear, NE33 1PZ
