How do you know that the foreign national you are proposing to employ has the right to work in the UK? James Whittaker makes the case for automated ID verification
The practice of employing illegal workers can be damaging to both businesses as a whole as well as the individuals involved. Hiring unauthorised employees, who are not eligible to work in the UK, undercuts legitimate workers, creates illegal profits and puts both the business and the individuals at risk. With the increasing availability of fake IDs, passports and driving licences, employers run the risk of unintentionally hiring illegal workers without even knowing it. It is therefore essential that businesses ensure that the correct processes are in place and that identity documents are validated before hiring staff. This responsibility more often than not falls to the HR manager as part of the wider recruitment process.
The implementation of employee ID document verification, if done well, can help employers to streamline their recruitment processes whilst also ensuring they do not fall foul of heavy penalties by unwittingly recruiting illegal workers.
Legal position
Under the 2006 Immigration Act, an employer is legally required to check employees’ ID documentation for authorisation to work in the UK. The UK Border Agency (UKBA) has put severe penalties in place in order to combat illegal employment in the UK. Businesses found hiring unlawful migrant workers could be liable for a civil penalty of up to £10,000 per illegitimate worker and if these workers have been knowingly employed it could result in an unlimited fine and/or maximum prison sentence of up to two years1. In the last 16 months, the UKBA has reported a total of 1,161 companies which have been fined a combined total of almost £10m for employing unauthorised workers, the majority from the restaurant or takeaway sector2.
In the current economic climate a fine of this magnitude or a jail sentence can severely affect any business. The UKBA is becoming more vigilant on the matter, issuing on the spot fines and penalty notices. There have been several recent examples of businesses caught out employing illegal migrant workers. ‘HandsOn’, a vehicle cleaning company operating at supermarkets across the South East, faces a huge fine of £200,000 after the UKBA found 20 suspected illegal employees working on its premises. The South East and London have been found to be the worst areas for illegal employment. The UKBA has found 815 illegal workers in this region since February 20083.
Applicants must also take some responsibility by ensuring they are able to produce correct and up to date ID documentation for verification upon employment. This will enable the business to check and keep on file copies of all documents to provide the basis of a statutory excuse against the payment of a civil penalty for employing an unauthorised worker4. It must be noted too, that not just any form of identification is sufficient – it is important to make sure that those provided meet the guidelines set by the UKBA.
Once staff members have been contracted it is up to the employer to check that employee identification documents are legitimate. The definition of an employer is ‘a person who employs an individual under a contract of employment’5, so it will invariably fall to whoever does the hiring to arrange for the correct checks to take place as part of the recruitment process or else face the repercussions.
Increase in foreign nationals working in the UK
There has been an influx of foreign nationals in the UK over the last three years with numbers rising from 1.66m to 2.32m6. This has created an additional issue for HR staff as they are presented with unfamiliar forms of ID documents from a variety of countries. To accommodate this on 25 November 2008, the UKBA introduced a compulsory scheme of ID cards for foreign nationals, however, this will not be completed until April 2011 so it is important that companies ensure they continue to check the guidelines submitted by the UKBA to define acceptable forms of documentation ahead of this deadline or risk being caught short. Some examples are: a European Economic Area (EEA) passport, a national ID card or a UK residence permit. A P45 form alone is insufficient. Once the identity of the individual has been verified, copies of the documents must be made and kept on file for HR personnel. If an employee has a limited time in the UK then checks should be carried out every 12 months to make sure all records are up to date.
In light of this the UK government has introduced a Points Based System (PBS) to assess foreign national workers outside of the EAA. They are allocated points on how beneficial their presence in the UK could be to the economy. Highly skilled workers will not require employee sponsorship. However, if they are workers who will require further training there are sponsorship schemes available which will allow a company to hire migrant workers if they are willing to take responsibility for their employees’ training and development.
Checking identification
At the moment legislation states that identification checks must be carried out to the best of the employer’s knowledge but there are many counterfeiters dedicated to producing fake identification documents. These are easily available online and there have been many examples in the press of counterfeit ID cards which are unidentifiable as being fake through visual checks alone unless extensive training has been undertaken. A recent example saw Adam Laurie clone a foreign national ID card and re-programme it with false data using just a laptop and mobile phone7. With such severe penalties in place recruiters cannot afford to make mistakes. The most reliable solution is to use an automated system like an electronic ID checker.
An electronic reader is easy to use and can validate any forms of ID acceptable for UK employment. The reader works by capturing an image of the document, for a passport it will then check the Machine Readable Zone (MRZ), expiry date and RFID tag. It will then cross-reference the information gained from each one to validate the document. The key security features of the document can also then be checked under a series of light sources including: UV, IR, White and Coaxial light, to ensure all the correct security features are present. For alternative ID cards or driving licences it can offer a database of genuine documents for comparison with detailed information pertaining to the key security features to help establish its validity.
These provide a simple cost effective solution for anybody in the hiring process and by automating the procedure it removes the scope for human error. It also streamlines recruitment, which is especially important for employment agencies or those working with high numbers of staff where it is important to perform ID checks in a short amount of time.
Employees form the backbone of any successful business; it is therefore imperative that there is a responsible and efficient recruitment process in place, so that employers can be confident that their work force isn’t breeching legal stipulations. By automating this process with tools such as electronic readers it removes human error and provides HR managers and employees with a reliable system to ensure they comply with authority guidelines and don’t run the risk of facing severe penalties.
1 www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/employers/preventingillegalworking/complyingwiththelaw/post280208/
2 www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/6088880/High-Street-names-fined-for-illegal-workers.html
3 www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/6088880/High-Street-names-fined-for-illegal-workers.html
4 www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/employers/preventingillegalworking/complyingwiththelaw/post280208/
5 www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2006/pdf/ukpga_20060013_en.pdf
6 www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/04/immigration-foreign-workers
7 www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1204641/New-ID-cards-supposed-unforgeable–took-expert-12-minutes-clone-programme-false-data.html