Work checks can cut illegal migration, pledges Cooper

The home secretary has said plans for new checks on unauthorised working will help cut levels of illegal migration.

Yvette Cooper has announced plans to expand the range of companies that can be fined for not carrying out right-to-work checks on casual workers.

Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, she said criminal gangs were using the prospect of illegal work to lure people into trying to enter the country.

It comes ahead of a UK-hosted summit on Monday, to be attended by about 40 nations, on tackling organised immigration crime.

Conservative shadow minister Alex Burghart said his party would study the proposals, but Labour needed to do more to deter people from coming to the UK.

Companies have a legal responsibility to verify that people they employ directly have the right to work in the UK. For agency workers, the responsibility lies with the agency to conduct the relevant checks.

There are sanctions including fines of up to £60,000 per unauthorised worker in cases where foreign workers are found to be working illegally.

Under plans announced on Sunday, the requirement to conduct a test would be extended to self-employed contractors carrying out work on behalf of a company.

Currently, firms are responsible for conducting checks on such workers only if they have sponsored the visa allowing them to work in the UK.

Cooper told the BBC that checks were currently “not reaching” the so-called gig economy, where many workers are employed in temporary or casual roles.

“Criminal gangs promise people illegal work just as they then take their money for illegal crossings as well,” she added.

Asked how many illegal workers would be stopped under the new measures, she conceded it was “difficult” to provide a precise figure.

“What we need is for employers themselves to take action that prevents the illegal working in the first place,” she added.

“Some of this is about us increasing enforcement, but some of this is the prevention action that we need employers to take.”

The Home Office said the change would be made possible by amending the government’s Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which is making its way through Parliament.

The department said a “full consultation” with businesses on implementing the checks would then follow, naming construction, food delivery, beauty salons, and couriers among sectors likely to be affected by the new rules.

Elsewhere in her interview, Cooper confirmed the government is reviewing how international human rights law is applied to migration cases, although she did not provide details.

The government has faced pressure from the Conservatives, who have called for a law change to stop those denied the right to stay in the UK challenging their deportation on human rights grounds.

Shadow cabinet office minister Burghart accused Labour ministers of looking at the “wrong end of the problem” when it came to illegal working.

He said Labour’s decision to scrap the Tories’ Rwanda deportation scheme shortly after entering office meant there would be no “deterrent” to stop people trying to enter the UK without permission.

The Conservatives announced the plan in 2022, but failed to bring the scheme into effect before they were voted out of office at last year’s general election.