Challenging Employer Civil Penalties

Companies who are found to be employing someone who does not have permission to work in the UK may face a civil penalty. A civil penalty is a fine of up to £60,000 per illegal worker found to be employed by your company. If there are multiple illegal workers found to be employed by your company, the fines can quickly amount to damaging figures.

To avoid such penalties, employers must conduct proper right to work checks. More information on this can be found here.

If your company finds itself in a position of facing a civil penalty, you may decide to accept and pay the fine, or you can challenge the decision. You will have 28 days from the date you were issued a penalty to decide your course of action and act accordingly.

Challenging a civil penalty

If a company receives a civil penalty, it has 28 days to respond. The following actions can be taken to challenge the penalty:

• Submit an objection to deny liability if the worker is not an employee (e.g., self-employed or contractor).
• Present a statutory excuse by providing evidence of correct right to work checks. If you carried out correct right to work checks and have evidence of the same, you will have a statutory excuse against a civil penalty. This acts as a full defence and will mean that you are not liable to pay the civil penalty.
• Request reductions to the penalty based on cooperation and compliance efforts.

Reductions

Several reductions can be applied to the penalty amount:

• £15,000 reduction for first-time offences.
• £5,000 reduction for cooperating with the Home Office.
• Additional £5,000 reduction for reporting the illegal worker.
• 30% reduction per worker using the Home Office fast payment option.

How our immigration solicitors can help

Our expertise and guidance can ensure that your business does not find itself in a position of facing civil liabilities. We will ensure you have correct right to work checking systems in place, we can provide training to your staff so they are up to date with the legal requirements and are equipped with the tools to identify issues or discrepancies in right to work checks.

If you are facing a civil penalty, then our business immigration solicitors can assist your business determine the best course of action, to minimise risks and damage to your company. We will guide you through the process of challenging a civil penalty by submitting the appropriate objections to the Home Office.

If you wish to discuss any concerns you may have in regard to civil penalties, or anything else, please contact our immigration solicitors.