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| Health & Social Care
February 4 2016

Illegal working checks - are you protected?

The Home Office is focusing on the prevention of illegal working. Are your practices for checking right to work documents up to date and being adhered to?
 
As an employer, you may be liable to a civil penalty of up to £20,000 for each illegal worker if you fail to carry out the necessary checks on individuals before they commence work and are found to be employing someone who doesn't have the right to work in the UK.
 
Also, knowingly employing an illegal worker, regardless of whether you have conducted documents checks, is a criminal offence and could result in up to 2 years imprisonment and|or an unlimited fine.
 
This particularly impacts the healthcare sector due to the number of individuals employed. As an employer, failure to undertake the correct checks can result in civil and criminal prosecutions.