The Home Office has started a consultation seeking views on proposals to strengthen and simplify the current civil penalty scheme to prevent illegal migrant working. Employers already have a responsibility to check that their employees have the right to work in the UK, and since 2008 this has been underpinned by a civil penalty scheme. The Government proposes to further refine these requirements to get tougher on employers who continue to exploit illegal migrant workers, and increase the sanction to reflect the harm they cause. In parallel, and mindful of burdens on legitimate business, the Government is proposing a number of measures to significantly reduce the administrative costs of complying with the requirements to make checks. The proposals include increasing the size of the maximum civil penalty from £10,000 to £20,000 for each illegal worker and reducing the range of documents that can evidence the eligibility to work for checking purposes.
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