Top five actions for hospitality businesses to prevent illegal working

Recently, the Home Office made 60 arrests for immigration offences by gig economy workers, predominantly working for food delivery businesses. In June, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak joined one of the Home Office teams which were part of an operation carrying out 159 illegal working visits on one day. 105 arrests were made at commercial premises, which included a number of restaurants.

The hospitality industry continues to remain an area of focus for the Home Office and employers in this sector often receive a large proportion of the illegal working penalties issued. Illegal working penalties can be up to £20,000 per illegal worker and employers who receive a penalty are named publicly on the Home Office website which can cause severe reputational damage. Employers who hold sponsor licences need to be aware that illegal working penalties can result in the loss of their sponsor licence, which would result in significant operational disruption for many.

Given increased enforcement action, the Home Office regularly reaches out to employers for requests for information relating to potential illegal working. This can be based on intel or data sharing with HMRC. Hospitality business can take the following five actions now to minimise illegal working risk and reputational damage. 

1. Create escalation processes​
Ensure there are escalation policies/processes in place in the event of any communications received from the Home Office or any unannounced site visits. This will mean that during an unannounced visit, front of house staff will know how to respond and which colleagues to contact. It is also important to ensure that members of staff corresponding with the Home Office are aware of right to work requirements and the organisation’s data privacy obligations before disclosing any information.

2. Review right to work processes​
Review right to work policies and processes to ensure they are robust and that right to work checks are carried out before employment commences. Right to work checks have changed significantly over the last few years with a move towards digital checks, but some checks still require the original document to be viewed in-person. The in-person checks can be difficult for many organisations who do not have multiple sites/locations in the UK. There are digital resources available to support organisations with right to work checks, one of which is our own Recruiting Right UK.​​

3. Conduct a right to work audit​
Audit existing right to work files to ensure that the business has the correct right to work documentation on file for all employees (UK and non-UK nationals). A review should be carried out to ensure that the expiry date of all time-limited visas are being tracked and monitored. If the employer is a registered sponsor, it is also a good opportunity to review the mandatory documents which must be retained for all sponsored workers. The audit could be carried out by internal staff with the relevant know how or externally in order to obtain an independent analysis.

4. Check contingent workers​
Review the organisation’s approach to checking right to work evidence for those who will not be direct employees of the business and ensuring their visa types permit self-employment (where applicable). A common pitfall is that student visa holders are not permitted to undertake self-employment. 

5. Train key staff​
Arrange regular training for staff with responsibility for right to work checks in the UK to ensure that their knowledge is up to date.

It is important that hospitality businesses consider their right to work compliance by following the five actions outlined above and seek external guidance and support where necessary to ensure that the illegal working risk within the business is minimised.

Corrine Bentham is a Principal Associate at Eversheds Sutherland.​