Do you know how to ensure that your UK workforce is legal?

Immigration has been a hot topic in the UK for quite some time now and there is rarely a day when the subject does not appear in the media. This is particularly so with the refugee crisis across Europe and the perceived influx of migrants from the EU into the UK.

Even if EU reforms lead to a restriction on EU migrants having access to benefits in the UK, it is questionable whether the numbers of EU migrants heading to the UK will decrease since the UK is still an attractive proposition with low unemployment and relatively high wages, even for low skilled workers.

This then poses a challenge for employers in ensuring their workforce is legal, especially those in the hotel and catering industries, where a large proportion of the work force can often be low skilled, transient and include a high percentage of foreign nationals. Getting it wrong could lead to substantial financial penalties for the UK employer and UK Visas & Immigration are increasingly targeting specific industries where they suspect there could be a higher risk of illegal working. The current civil penalty for employing an illegal worker is up to £20,000 per individual, which has doubled since changes were introduced in May 2014.

If you hold a sponsor licence to enable you to hire skilled workers from outside the EU, issues with illegal working can also threaten your licence and your ability to sponsor workers, not to mention the reputational damage involved in being named and shamed as an employer of illegal workers.

It is therefore vital that employers have robust processes in place to ensure that sufficient checks are made before taking on new employees.

What do you need to do to protect your business?

Current UK legislation provides employers with a way of avoiding a civil penalty if they undertake specific pre-employment checks in accordance with Home Office guidelines before taking on new employees. The checks involve seeing an original document which evidences the prospective employee’s right to work and then retaining an endorsed copy of the document for your records. Although your HR teams and managers may be familiar with these checks, often they are done incorrectly, at the wrong time or not at all.  Processes can also fall through the cracks when HR staff leave the business and adequate handover is not provided to new team members.

The Home Office provides detailed guidance for employers regarding how to conduct a pre-employment check in order to be compliant with the legislation. The guidance is very prescriptive and it is important that all steps are followed to trigger the protection provided by the legislation. Registered immigration advisers can also assist by providing training to your HR teams, helping draft policies and processes or undertaking an audit on current processes and identifying any weak spots. Any time invested in ensuring that you are compliant will be well spent and should mean that the outcome of any UK Visas & Immigration compliance visit will result in a clean bill of health.

Using a recruitment agent?

Note if staff are supplied to you through an agent, but you are still the legal employer, it is your responsibility to undertake this check and keep the necessary records. It is not acceptable to outsource the check and if you do so you will not be protected by the legislation, even if the check was done correctly.

If the process is not managed centrally, or if you have a high turnover of staff, it is strongly advised that written processes are maintained and form part of the induction process for relevant HR staff. It is also a good idea to ensure that regular reminders are sent to staff doing the checks and that refresher training is provided on a regular basis.

Bringing skilled workers into the UK from outside the EU

Finally, as mentioned above, if your organisation also holds a Tier 2 sponsor licence for sponsoring skilled workers from outside the EU, then the above is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to immigration compliance. In this instance, we would highly recommend seeking advice from a registered immigration adviser, to ensure that you are keeping up to date with your compliance duties as failure to do so could have a severe impact on the business and your current sponsored workers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The immigration team at Mazars are fully registered and experienced at advising employers who need advice and assistance with managing this process within their business.

By Alison Hutton. This article first appeared in the June 2016 issue of Hotel Owner