Illegal Immigrants: Employment
(asked on 9th February 2015) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people in each year since 2009 have received prison sentences for employing illegal immigrants.
Employers have had a duty to prevent illegal working since 1997 by carrying out specified document checks on people before they employ them. Since 2008, this duty has been underpinned by a civil penalty scheme. In May 2014, this Government introduced measures making it simpler to check the immigration status of potential employees and at the same time doubled the maximum civil penalty to £20,000 for the employment of an illegal worker. The increased maximum civil penalty better reflects the harm caused by employing illegal workers, the costs to wider society and the unfair economic advantage derived from the activity.
Where an employer knowingly employs an illegal worker the maximum penalty is two years’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.
The number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody for offences related to employing illegal immigrants, in England and Wales, from 2009 to 2013 can be viewed in the table
| Offenders sentenced to immediate custody for offences related to employing illegal immigrants, England and Wales, 2009 to 2013 (1)(2) | |||||||||
| Offence | Outcome | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | |||
| Employing a person aged 16 and above subject to immigration control (3) | Sentenced | 29 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||
| of which | |||||||||
| Immediate custody | . | . | . | . | . | ||||
| Employing a person knowing that they are an adult subject to immigration control (4) | Sentenced | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | |||
| of which | |||||||||
| Immediate custody | 1 | . | 2 | 1 | . | ||||
| Employing accession state national subject to worker authorisation in accession period (5) | Sentenced | . | 1 | . | . | . | |||
| of which | |||||||||
| Immediate custody | . | . | . | . | . | ||||
| '-' = Nil | |||||||||
| (1) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. | |||||||||
| (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. | |||||||||
| (3) An offence under Section 8 Asylum and Immigration Act 1996, amended Asylum and Immigration Act 2004 | |||||||||
| (4) An offence under S 21 Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 | |||||||||
| (5) Offence under R12(1)(b) and (6) Accession (Immigration and Worker Authorisation) Regulations 2006 | |||||||||
| Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice. | |||||||||
| Ref: PQ 223879 | |||||||||
Court proceedings data for 2014 are planned for publication in May 2015.