LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Hundreds of rogue employers across the United Kingdon have been targeted by the Home Office during a nationwide weeklong intensive operation targeting illegal working.
During an intensive week of action from August 18, Immigration Enforcement teams raided businesses suspected of employing illegal workers, particularly focusing on car washes.
Over the course of the operation, more than 275 premises were searched. 135 employers were given notices for employing illegal workers and 85 illegal workers were arrested.
In many cases, illegal workers live in squalid conditions on-site, earn far below the UK national minimum wage, work longer hours than legally allowed and may have entered the UK illegally, overstayed their visas or arrived under visitor conditions, the Home Office said.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper had announced last month that the government would crack down on unscrupulous employers who are hiring migrants illegally and exploiting vulnerable people, alongside extensive work to disrupt the criminal networks who bring the workers to the UK.
Employers found guilty of employing illegal workers are liable to pay a maximum fine of £45,000 per worker for a first offence and £60,000 per worker for repeat violations.
Cooper said more operations of this kind will be conducted in the near future.
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