Dear C. Evison,

Thank you for your e-mail of 26 February requesting details of the total amount of illegal working civil penalties issued to employers for employing illegal workers between 29 February 2008 and 31 December 2008, and the total amount collected between the same dates. This falls to be dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The total amount of illegal working civil penalties issued to employers for employing illegal workers between 29 February 2008 and 31 December 2008 was £11,187,500.00. The total amount collected for illegal working civil penalties issued between 29 February 2008 and 31 December 2008 for employing illegal workers was £853,134.91.

Although the legislation came into force in February 2008, the first penalty notices were not issued until May 2008. The timetable required to allow due consideration of objections and appeals means that, of the penalty cases considered by 31 December 2008, only approximately 16% had exhausted their objection and appeal rights and were therefore suitable for court recovery action. It is the UK Border Agency's intention to refer this minority of cases to a specialist debt recovery agent to ensure that rigorous and effective collection action is undertaken, including court action where appropriate.

This data is sourced from a UK Border Agency management information system, the data are not quality assured under National Statistics protocols and are subject to change due to internal data quality checking. Figures provided from this source do not constitute part of National Statistics and should be treated as provisional.

If you are dissatisfied with this response you may request an independent internal review of our handling of your request.  Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the UK Border Agency sending a substantive reply to your original request and should be addressed  to:

Information Access Policy Team

(Freedom of Information Team)

UK Border Agency
11th Floor - Short Corridor
Lunar House
40 Wellesley Road

Croydon
CR9 2BY

During the independent review the department's handling of your information request will be reassessed by staff who were not involved in providing you with this response. Should you remain dissatisfied after this internal review, you will have a right of complaint to the Information Commissioner as established by section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act.

Yours sincerely

Briefing & Correspondence Team

Immigration Group