Does your employee have the right to work in the UK? How do you check?

by Kidd Rapinet on December 8, 2014

PassportIf you have an employee who does not have the right to work in the UK then the penalty for businesses has doubled dramatically from £10,000 to £20,000 per illegal employee. Many businesses will be inadvertently placing themselves at risk of receiving a fine from the Home Office.

To avoid this, it is important for businesses to conduct the necessary checks for all its employees and to ensure that they are compliant. Employers are required to keep a record of entitlement to work and visa expiry dates for their workers and to be aware of the allowances granted under each different type of visa.

The United Kingdom Visas and Immigration service (UKVI) are also making an increased number of unannounced raids and visits to workplaces to check compliance.

Checking and understanding who may or may not have the right to work is complex. There are many different types of visas and it can be difficult for businesses to understand exactly who does and who does not have the right to work. As a result more and more businesses have been hit with heavy fines and many others may be leaving themselves exposed to this risk. For example, having just two employees who may not have the right to work could lead to a fine of £40,000!

Prevention is most definitely better than a very expensive cure with this legislation.

For more information on how Kidd Rapinet LLP can assist you please contact our specialist Immigration Department on 0207 925 0303 or at Immigration@kiddrapinet.co.uk.

Our team provides pragmatic and cost effective assistance to ensure all our clients’ immigration matters are managed expertly and efficiently.

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