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Further to changes introduced by the Home Office in May 2004 to Section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996, please find below a chacklist we have devised to help prevent you from employing somebody illegally.
Please tick all documents seen, take copies of the documents and keep them in a safe place. Both the checklist and the photocopies may also be used to help you establish a defence should you later be found to be employing a person illegally.
There are three steps you need to carry out to establish a defence as detailed in our ‘Protecting Yourself as an Employer’ Leaflet. This checklist should be read and used in conjunction with the aforementioned leaflet, and is intended as a guide only. For full details of the act please refer to the Home office.
It is essential that you carry the checks out on all potential employees whether or not you think they have a right to work in the U.K by making assumptions based on their appearance or accent. If you do not ask all potential employees you could face prosecution under the Race Relations Act 1976 and an unlimited fine.
Currently the maximum penalty a court can impose is £5000 for each person you are found to have employed illegally. The Government has set up an employers help line if you are worried about employing somebody, the number is 0845 010 6677, alternatively you can log onto their website at www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk.
Employing nationals from the European Economic Area
Nationals from the European Economic Area (EEA) countries can enter and work in the United Kingdom without any restrictions just like British citizens. The same is also the case for their immediate family members.
You will need to ask nationals from all EEA countries to produce a document showing their nationality. Please refer to List 1 to see which documents will provide you with a defence if they are checked and copied.
The following are a list of EEA countries:
Austria
Greece
Malta
Belgium
Hungary
Netherlands
Cyprus
Iceland
Norway
Czech Republic
Ireland
Poland
Denmark
Italy
Portugal
Estonia
Latvia
Slovakia
Finland
Liechtenstein
Slovenia
France
Lithuania
Spain
Germany
Luxembourg
Sweden United Kingdom
From 1 June 2002 nationals from Switzerland have also had the same free movement and employment rights as EEA nationals.
The Government has set up a Workers Registration Scheme to monitor the participation in the UK labour market of workers from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. Once you have established the person has a right to work you will need to make sure that a person from one of these countries registers with the Home Office. For them to be able to do this you must provide them with evidence of the employment (a contract or letter). You must then take a copy of the completed application for registration before it is sent to the Home Office. You must keep this copy until you receive notification from the Home Office that the worker has been registered successfully. The Home office will send to you a copy of the registration certificate confirming this; you must retain the form sent to you.
Step 1
You must ask all potential employees to provide you with original documents as follows:
List 1 - Documents which provide the defence if produced alone.
Any one of the documents included in List 1 will provide you with the defence if you check and copy them, and follow all of the steps as detailed in our leaflet ‘Protecting Yourself as an Employer’.
List 2 – Documents which provide the defence if produced in combination.
List 2 covers the combinations of documents which will provide you with the defence if you follow all of the steps over. You will not have the defence if you see one document from the first combination and one from the second combination.
First Combination
Second Combination
Along with a document issued by the Work Permits UK, you must also check and copy one of the following documents listed in the two points below:
