A government crackdown on companies hiring illegal immigrants means haulage bosses must ensure they enforce strict recruitment policies, according to lawyers. Rules that came into force in February mean employers that hire illegal immigrants can be fined £10,000 per worker. Knowingly hiring an illegal migrant can lead to up to two years in jail or an unlimited fine.
And outsourcing the checking process to an agency will not protect you from liability. Mace and Jones lawyer Martin Edwards
advises hauliers to obtain copies of the necessary documents from the agency and retain them for their records. Latest figures from recruitment consultancy Harvey Nash show that the numbers of skilled migrant workers will climb 14% to more than 800,000 within four years. The total contribution they will make to the UK economy will be £77bn, with IT, telecommunications and transport benefiting most.
Edwards says: "It is vital employers rigorously check foreign workers' identities and paperwork including ID and passports. Employers should also regularly review expiry dates of all employees without an automatic right to work in the UK. Responsibility for these checks cannot be outsourced to third-party labour suppliers."
Reed Business Information Limited.©2009
