Reform UK right to work plans have sparked controversy over proposed measures targeting illegal working and right-to-work checks in the UK.
Reform UK’s Proposed Right to Work Plans
If it formed a government in the UK, Reform UK has said it would pay members of the public for tip-offs that led to successful prosecutions of high-street shops employing illegal workers. Immigration law expert Vanessa Ganguin discusses why she believes the plans are unrealistic and unjust.
Reform UK home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf’s controversial soundbites are not policies that would have any substance, but rather to play on people’s preconceptions. Why call the hotline the public is asked to call a ‘Turkish barbers tip line’ unless you are trying to provoke hate and prejudice?
Does Reform UK actually mean people want to live under the sort of informing and finger-pointing that made life in East Germany under the Stasi so neurotic and miserable?
If people are incentivised to “inform” on those who may be working illegally, what’s to stop unscrupulous people from “informing” on anyone from any ethnic background they wish to indulge their xenophobia on?
UK Visas and Immigration, part of the Home Office, already works on an intelligence-led basis and on information from the public.
eVisas is digitising right-to-work checks for many workers, so there is no excuse for UK companies not to undertake proper right-to-work checks.
These give you a statutory excuse to safeguard from enormous fines which should be enough of an incentive already. Employing a person illegally can lead to a civil penalty of up to £60,000 per worker for businesses and licensed sponsors can lose their licence to sponsor immigrant workers – which can be ruinous. If an employer or their worker knowingly contravenes the illegal working regulations they could be put to prison.
UK Right-to-Work Checks and New Employer Duties
Employers already face a major expansion of right to work duties under the Labour government to hold firms liable for the right to work of subcontractors and people working for them thru internet matching services. It will come into force on 1 October 2026. This measure has been introduced partly to represent the gig economy and current ways individuals work.
The big names like Deliveroo have already been on board ahead of the changes this autumn so Reform UK labelling their announcement a “Deliveroo Law” is somewhat unfair and, no pun meant, but I’m afraid they have missed the boat.
Expansion of Right-to-Work Obligations
The autumn expansion of right to work obligations means more outsourcing of the UK’s immigration checks. “What Reform UK is proposing is ridiculous and unnecessary and would only embolden anyone with a prejudice to indulge it. Members of the public do not see the right-to-work checks that HR departments have done. They would likely have to base this on nothing more than the person looking different to them or having an accent.
To be saying this at a time when police have had to rescue people from attacks in Thetford, Norfolk after violent protestors tried to storm houses on the simple suspicion that there might be asylum seekers inside and people from minority ethnic communities are feeling fearful after riots in Belfast, is incredibly irresponsible.
The World Bank thinks our illegal economy is far smaller than comparable European countries. So you would think, since Great Britain is an island, that the UK is not a “soft touch” as Reform UK suggests.