Immigration Enforcement
Freedom of Information Team
Sandford House
41 Homer Road
Solihull
Ian Johnson
West Midlands
B91 3QJ
Sent via e-mail:
reque
st-3418 59-
www.gov.uk/home-office
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
4 August 2016
Dear Mr Johnson
Re: Freedom of Information request – 40189
Thank you for your email of 25 June in which you ask about enforcement activity in
the Teesside postcode area in the last five years. Your request has been handled as
a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
You specifically requested:
a) The name and address of the business raided (I.E. Khan's Indian Takeaway,
West Street etc)
b) What was uncovered in the raid and the nationality of any suspected illegal
staff (I.E Three suspected illegal workers, two Sri Lankan, one Indian etc)
c) What the action was (arrest, fine notice etc)
d) If any illegal workers were subsequently deported. If so, how many.
e) The total amount of any fine notice issued. Also please disclose how much of
that fine has been paid.
The Home Office has obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998 and in law
generally to protect personal data. We have concluded that the information you have
requested regarding the name and address of the business visited, is exempt from
disclosure under section 40(2) of the FOI Act, because of the condition at section
40(3)(a)(i). This exempts personal data if disclosure would contravene any of the data
protection principles in Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act. The data that we can
provide in response to points a to d of your request is attached at Annex A.
In February 2008 the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 introduced a
system of civil penalties for employers who employ illegal migrant workers. The
legislation is designed to encourage employers to prevent illegal migrant working,
without criminalising those who slip up in operating their recruitment and employment
practices. The provisions allow for an employer to establish a statutory excuse from
payment of a civil penalty by checking, copying and retaining copies of their
prospective employees' documents prior to the employee starting work. For that
reason the number of Notices of Potential Liability or Referral Notices issued can be
higher than the number of Civil Penalties actually pursued where a statutory excuse
has been established.
In response to point e of your request, we can advise that for the period of time from 1
April 2011 to 31 March 2016, 76 civil penalties with a total initial value of £787,500
were issued to businesses on Teesside for the employment of illegal workers in
breach of Section 15 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006. Of these
penalties, £159,073.33 has been recovered to date.
This information relates to gross value initial penalties issued and is subject to change
at the objection and appeals stage. The value of these penalties could be reduced by
up to 30% if employers paid their penalties within 21 days and the majority of
employers qualify for this discount under the statutory code of practice governing the
operation of the scheme. Employers are able to apply for a pre-agreed instalment
payment plan of up to a 36 month period when paying the penalty. Due to employers
taking up these agreements, on average it can take more than two years to recover
the debt. Penalties may be cancelled, reduced or increased at the objection and
appeals stage.
We robustly pursue all outstanding debt. Where an employer fails to pay the penalty
in full or by the faster payment option, we will pursue payment of the outstanding debt
using external debt collection agencies. Utilising all debt recovery tools available
which includes high court enforcement officers or sheriffs visiting premises to secure
payment, funds being retrieved directly from bank accounts and charging orders
secured against proprieties.
Where an employer does not pay and becomes liquidated or bankrupt, we share their
details with the Insolvency Service who will use this information in its investigations
under the Company Directors Disqualification Act (CDDA) 1986. Since May 2013, this
has resulted in over 40 directors of limited companies who have been issued with civil
penalties disqualified from being a company director in the UK for significant periods.
Following a recent legislative change we now also refer directors of ‘live’ businesses
who have defaulted on payment of the civil penalty to the Insolvency Service for
director disqualification action.
In keeping with the Freedom of Information Act, we assume that all information can
be released to the public unless it is exempt. In line with normal practice we are
therefore releasing the information which you requested via the Home Office website.
If you are dissatisfied with this response you may request an independent internal
review of our handling of your request by submitting a complaint within two months to
the address below, quoting reference 40189. If you ask for an internal review, it would
be helpful if you could say why you are dissatisfied with the response.
Yours sincerely,
Immigration Enforcement
Freedom of Information & Parliamentary Questions Team