Illegal Working Raids at Record Levels — What Every UK Employer Needs to Know in 2026
The numbers are not subtle
In January 2026, the Home Office announced that illegal working enforcement has reached the highest level in British history. Over 17,400 raids were carried out between July 2024 and December 2025 — a 77% increase — leading to more than 12,300 arrests. During 2025 alone, 2,438 civil penalties were issued to employers, totalling over £130 million in fines.
Those are the headlines. Here is what they actually mean for you.
This is not just about nail bars and car washes
The government’s press release focuses on the usual suspects — takeaways, barbers, hand car washes. And yes, those sectors account for a large share of enforcement activity. But the picture is broader than that.
In December 2025, a construction site in Swindon was raided, leading to 30 arrests. A market at Kempton Park racecourse saw 11 arrests. A warehouse in Shoreham-by-Sea: 13 arrests. The Home Office is now equipped with body-worn cameras and cross-referencing HMRC PAYE data against its own Sponsor Management System.
If you hold a sponsor licence, that last point matters enormously. The Home Office is not waiting for a tip-off. It is matching data across government departments and identifying discrepancies automatically.
The penalties have tripled — and they are being enforced
Since February 2024, the civil penalty for employing someone without the right to work has been:
£45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach
£60,000 per illegal worker for repeat offences
These are not theoretical maximums. The largest penalty in recent published data was £320,000 — for a single business. And unlike a fine from your local council, an illegal working civil penalty has consequences that go well beyond the cheque you write. For sponsor licence holders, a penalty can trigger immediate suspension or revocation of your licence. That means every sponsored worker you employ is suddenly at risk of having their visa curtailed.
The net is widening — gig workers, contractors and subcontractors
The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 received Royal Assent in December 2025. Among its provisions is a fundamental expansion of right-to-work obligations. For the first time, these will extend beyond traditional employees to cover:
Gig economy workers — delivery drivers, private hire operators, on-demand staff
Subcontractors — individuals engaged to provide work or services for a third party
Workers sourced through online platforms — matching services, freelance marketplaces
The secondary legislation and operational guidance are expected throughout 2026–27, but the direction of travel is unmistakable. If your business uses agency staff, zero-hours workers, or subcontracted labour, the compliance obligations that currently apply to your permanent employees will soon apply to them too.
The government has also announced that a mandatory digital ID for right-to-work verification will be introduced by the end of this Parliament.
What compliant employers should be doing now
If you already hold a sponsor licence and take your compliance duties seriously, none of this should panic you. But “we do our checks properly” is not the same as being able to prove it.
Here is what the Home Office expects — and where we see employers fall short:
Right-to-work checks must follow the prescribed process exactly. A photocopy of a passport in an HR file is not a compliant check. The check must be conducted before employment starts, it must follow the current Home Office code of practice, and the records must be retained in the correct format. A surprising number of employers get this wrong — a 2025 Home Office report found that 62% of employers incorrectly believed a UK driving licence was acceptable for a manual right-to-work check.
Follow-up checks on time-limited visas are not optional. If a worker’s permission to work has an expiry date, you must repeat the check before it expires. Miss this, and you lose your statutory excuse — meaning you are liable for the full civil penalty even if the worker’s visa was perfectly valid when they started.
Your Sponsor Management System duties continue after the licence is granted. Reporting obligations — changes of circumstances, absences, salary changes — are not administrative formalities. They are conditions of your licence. The Home Office now conducts intelligence-led desk audits remotely. You may never see an enforcement officer at your door; the first sign of trouble may be a letter suspending your licence.
Train everyone who touches the process. The person conducting right-to-work checks needs to know exactly what they are looking at. Document fraud is sophisticated. The gap between “I looked at their passport” and “I conducted a compliant check in accordance with the code of practice” is the gap between having a statutory excuse and facing a £45,000 penalty.
The honest truth about enforcement
The government’s rhetoric is designed to deter illegal migration. The practical effect falls disproportionately on two groups: migrants who are working unlawfully (often in exploitative conditions), and legitimate employers whose paperwork is not quite right.
The Home Office does not distinguish between criminal exploitation and administrative failure at the point of a raid. Both result in the same penalty notice. Both can result in the same licence action. The difference is made afterwards — in your representations, your objection, or your appeal.
That is why compliance is not about ticking boxes. It is about building a system that protects your business, your workers, and your licence — because when Immigration Enforcement arrives, “we didn’t know” and “we forgot” produce exactly the same outcome as “we didn’t care.”
What happens when Immigration Enforcement arrives — and what your rights are
Most employers have never experienced an enforcement visit. If it happens to you, the first few minutes will determine how the rest of the encounter goes. Understanding the legal framework in advance — not in the moment — is the difference between a controlled situation and a chaotic one.
How they get through the door
Immigration Enforcement uses different legal powers depending on your type of business, and the distinction matters.
If you are a licensed premises — a restaurant, pub, hotel, café or any business that sells alcohol or provides late-night hot food — officers can enter without a warrant under section 179 of the Licensing Act 2003 (as amended by the Immigration Act 2016). They need only have “reason to believe” that a licensable activity is taking place. In practice, that means they can walk in during opening hours without your permission if you serve alcohol or hot food after 11pm. This is why 28% of all raids in 2025 were on restaurants, takeaways and cafés — the legal threshold for entry is lower than for any other type of business.
However, this power has limits. The statutory purpose of a section 179 entry is to investigate whether an immigration offence is being committed in connection with the licensable activity. That means the sale of alcohol or provision of late-night refreshment. There is a legitimate question about whether officers who enter under this power can then interrogate kitchen staff, delivery drivers, or other employees who have no involvement in the licensed activity. In practice, enforcement teams routinely treat section 179 entry as a gateway to investigate the entire workforce. Whether this exceeds the scope of the power is a matter that could be challenged — but that challenge will not happen in the moment; it happens afterwards, in representations or in court.
If you are not a licensed premises, officers generally need either a warrant or your consent to enter. And consent — legally speaking — must be informed. The Home Office’s own guidance states that officers must explain who they are, why they are there, what they intend to do, and what the potential consequences are. They must also tell you that you can refuse entry and that you can withdraw consent at any time.
In practice, many business owners report that this process is not followed. Officers may arrive in numbers, with body-worn cameras and police support, and the atmosphere may not feel like one in which consent is genuinely voluntary. If you believe your consent was not properly obtained, this can form the basis of a later challenge — but again, the challenge happens after the event, not during it.
What officers can and cannot do once inside
Once inside, Immigration Enforcement officers have the power to question individuals about their immigration status. They can ask to see identity documents. They can separate staff and question them individually.
What they cannot do is detain someone without reasonable suspicion that the person is an immigration offender. They cannot search the premises beyond what their power of entry allows. And they cannot force you to hand over employment records on the spot — although they can request them and note your refusal.
If officers are accompanied by police, the police have their own separate powers. But the police cannot simply “borrow” immigration powers, and immigration officers cannot exercise police powers. The two sets of officers are operating under different legal frameworks, even when they arrive in the same van.
What you should do in the moment
Stay calm. This sounds obvious, but the enforcement visit is designed to be fast-moving and intimidating. Officers are trained to maintain control of the situation. Your job is to ensure the situation is lawful, not to match their pace.
Ask to see identification and ask what power they are using to enter. Are they entering under a warrant? Under the Licensing Act? With consent? This determines what they can and cannot do, and it is information you will need later.
Ask for the name and rank of the officer in charge. You are entitled to this.
Do not obstruct, but do not volunteer information you are not required to give. You are not obliged to answer questions about your employees’ immigration status on the spot. You are not obliged to open locked areas. You are not obliged to produce documents immediately (though a failure to cooperate may be noted and could affect any subsequent proceedings).
Take notes. Write down what happened, when, who said what, and how many officers were present. If you have CCTV, preserve the footage. These contemporaneous records are invaluable if you later need to challenge the conduct of the visit.
Contact a solicitor as soon as possible. Not after you have had time to think about it. Not next week. The same day if you can. If arrests are made, individuals have the right to legal representation and should be told this — though in practice, the pace of events can make this difficult.
What happens afterwards
If officers find no illegal workers, they will leave. You may receive no further communication — or you may receive a letter confirming the visit. Either way, the visit itself becomes part of your enforcement history with the Home Office. If you hold a sponsor licence, the visit may trigger additional scrutiny.
If officers believe they have found illegal workers, those individuals may be arrested and detained. You may receive a civil penalty referral notice, which begins the formal process that can lead to a penalty of up to £45,000 per worker. You have 28 days to respond.
The outcome of a visit depends heavily on what happens in the hours and days that follow — not just what happened during the visit itself. The quality of your right-to-work records, the coherence of your compliance systems, and the speed and quality of your legal response all matter.
The bigger picture
In 2025, Immigration Enforcement carried out over 12,700 illegal working raids and made nearly 9,000 arrests. But only around a quarter of those arrested were actually detained, and only around 12% left the UK. The gap between arrests and outcomes is significant. It suggests that a substantial proportion of enforcement activity does not result in the removal of anyone who is working illegally — but it does result in disruption, distress, and potential reputational damage for the businesses involved, including businesses where no wrongdoing is found.
This is not an argument against compliance. Quite the opposite. The fact that enforcement is high-volume and sometimes imprecise makes it more important — not less — to have your systems in order. If your right-to-work checks are compliant, your sponsor management system duties are up to date, and your records are accessible, an enforcement visit is an inconvenience. If they are not, it is a crisis.
What to do if you receive a civil penalty notice
You have 28 days from the date of the penalty notice to respond. Your options are:
Pay the penalty. If you pay within 21 days, you receive a 30% reduction.
Object to the Home Office. You can make representations that you had a statutory excuse, that the penalty amount is too high, or that there are other reasons the penalty should not have been imposed. The Home Office must consider your objection and issue a fresh decision.
Appeal to the County Court. If your objection is unsuccessful, you can appeal. The court will consider the matter afresh, not simply review the Home Office’s decision.
Do not ignore the notice. Do not assume it will go away. And do not wait until the 28 days are nearly up before seeking advice. The quality of your initial response often determines whether this is a manageable problem or an existential one.
How we help
At Migrant Law Partnership, we advise employers on both sides of this problem — building compliant systems before enforcement action occurs, and representing businesses when it does.
We conduct sponsor licence compliance audits. We advise on right-to-work procedures. We represent employers in civil penalty objections and appeals. And we help sponsor licence holders who are facing suspension or revocation protect their licence and their workforce.
If the numbers in this article concern you, that is the appropriate response. The question is what you do next.