Recruiters face £12m in Border Agency fines
13 April 2012
Employers and recruiters have been issued with £12 million in fines for failing to carry out adequate checks to verify candidates’ right to work in the UK, according to giant, the web-based back office solutions provider to the recruitment industry
Fri, 13 Apr 2012
Employers and recruiters have been issued with £12 million in fines for failing to carry out adequate checks to verify candidates’ right to work in the UK, according to giant, the web-based back office solutions provider to the recruitment industry.
According to data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the UK Border Agency has issued 6,953 Notification of Liability (NOLs) notices with a total value of £65.3m since the new system was introduced in February 2008. This new system gave the UK Border Agency the power to issue civil penalties of up to £10,000 to employers for every illegal worker.
The level of fine varies according to whether suitable eligibility checks – such as verifying right to work by checking passports – have been carried out.
Matthew Brown, managing director of giant, says: “The compliance burden on employers and recruiters can be extremely high, particularly as many of them still rely on manual, paper-based identity checks, which are costly to administer and prone to error.” “With unemployment high and immigration a burning political issue, employers and recruiters need to make doubly sure that candidates are fully vetted.”
He adds: “Putting in place processes and systems to streamline background checking will be prohibitively expensive for the majority of employers and recruiters. The damage – not just financial but reputational – of putting forward or employing an illegal candidate can be considerable, yet most checking is still fairly basic and haphazard despite the tougher penalties.”
Employers and recruiters have been issued with £12 million in fines for failing to carry out adequate checks to verify candidates’ right to work in the UK, according to giant, the web-based back office solutions provider to the recruitment industry.
According to data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the UK Border Agency has issued 6,953 Notification of Liability (NOLs) notices with a total value of £65.3m since the new system was introduced in February 2008. This new system gave the UK Border Agency the power to issue civil penalties of up to £10,000 to employers for every illegal worker.
The level of fine varies according to whether suitable eligibility checks – such as verifying right to work by checking passports – have been carried out.
Matthew Brown, managing director of giant, says: “The compliance burden on employers and recruiters can be extremely high, particularly as many of them still rely on manual, paper-based identity checks, which are costly to administer and prone to error.” “With unemployment high and immigration a burning political issue, employers and recruiters need to make doubly sure that candidates are fully vetted.”
He adds: “Putting in place processes and systems to streamline background checking will be prohibitively expensive for the majority of employers and recruiters. The damage – not just financial but reputational – of putting forward or employing an illegal candidate can be considerable, yet most checking is still fairly basic and haphazard despite the tougher penalties.”
