Employers face jail for using illegal workers in Britain
Richard Ford:
HOUSEHOLDERS who employ illegal workers, including nannies, face fines or even jail under proposals published yesterday to tackle illegal migrant working.
On-the-spot fines of £2,000 per illegal worker will now be imposed on employers or businesses. Firms or individuals who “knowingly” employ an illegal worker face a jail term of up to two years under the latest asylum and immigration Bill, published yesterday.
But householders whose cleaners, gardeners and window cleaners are here illegally will not be affected in the new clampdown. Under the law, they are considered to be purchasing a service rather than employing the person.
However, a person who has a nanny working exclusively for him, which means paying her National Insurance and providing her with holidays, will be covered by the proposal.
Tony McNulty, the Immigration Minister, said that the powers were aimed at companies, gangmasters and employment agencies who hire illegal migrants on a grand scale, rather than individuals.
Asked if the powers would be used against families who hire such workers, Mr McNulty said: “That is one of the relationships that will be harder to get at. Clearly the focus will be on the large-scale businesses.” Under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill, bailiffs will have the power to seize goods from the homes or business premises of anyone refusing to pay the civil penalty of £2,000. An employer who “knowingly” hires an illegal worker faces a jail term of up to 12 months at a magistrates’ court and up to two years at Crown Court.
Families face fines for employing an illegal migrant
Illegal au pairs could land householders in prison
Employers face £2,000 fine over illegal immigrants
How your child's nanny could land you in prison
Parents face fines for hiring illegal nannies
UK unveils immigration crackdown
posted by Adam Lawson @ 12:48 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Enforcement of this in the case of domestic help will be, or maybe even ought to be, very difficult in any kind of free society. Looking at the total picture of illegal immigration as it's affecting western nations, stuff like this is hard to take seriously.
Employers of nannies and other domestics are a bit of a "human interest" side issue picked up by the Press. A recent estimate put the number of illegals in the UK at 500,000 (I think that was inclusive of dependants), and the figure is probably an underestimate. Many of these people are working in casual, illegal employment at sub-legal and sometimes slave-labour pay rates. They are subsidised by the state, in that it is highly unlikely that national insurance and other taxes are paid.
You can tell how seriously over Government takes the problem; they have devoted all of 12 investigators at the Immingration and Nationality Directorate (IND) to it.
This proposed legislation is little more than NuLabour spin. They, and their industrial paymasters, are perfectly happy with their slave-labour workforce and will do nothing to eradicate it.
Post a Comment
<< Home