British workers to be treated like illegal immigrants

British workers to be treated like illegal immigrants - to avoid discriminating against foreigners

By JAMES SLACK - More by this author » Last updated at 16:33pm on 22nd November 2007 Comments (31)

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All British workers will be treated as potential illegal immigrants when they apply for a job - to avoid discriminating against foreign workers.

Employers will also risk prosecution if they ask job applicants to speak fluent English, according to papers released by the Home Office tonight.

The Government said businesses would in future face on-the-spot fines of up £10,000 for every illegal immigrant they are caught employing.

Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said firms who do not want to be caught out must carry out proper checks on new employees to ensure they are legally resident in the UK.

But a bundle of documents released alongside the crackdown revealed that - in doing so - firms must ensure they do not flout the Race Relations Act.

To be safe from a discrimination lawsuit, they must treat all applicants the same - which means British workers must also be made to prove they are not an illegal immigrant by, for example, producing a passport. This will apply even where the applicant is clearly from the UK.

The papers state: "It is important to remember that the population of the UK is ethnically diverse. Many people from ethnic minorities in this country are British citizens and many non-British citizens from black and ethnic-minority communities are entitled to work here.

"Therefore, it must not be assumed that someone from an ethnic minority is an immigrant, or that someone born abroad is not entitled to work in the UK.

"We recommend that employers obtain a statutory excuse for all potential employees. This not only protects the employer from liability for a civil penalty, but also demonstrates consistent, transparent and non-discriminatory recruitment practices."

The Home Office is also warning against only employing people who speak fluent English. This is despite Ministers having a stated policy that - if migrants are to properly integrate - they must learn the English language.

Under a section headed "indirect discrimination", the papers say: "It would be discriminatory to ask for a very high standard of English when the job does not require this, or to reject an applicant who has an unfamiliar accent."

It came amid huge scepticism at the Government's ability to enforce the new fines regime, which doubles the current maximum penalty for employing an illegal from £5,000 to £10,000.

They will be issued on a sliding scale, depending on whether or not it is an employer's first offence and if they co-operated with the authorities.

Families who have a nanny, or sign a contract with a builder for an extension, will potentially be liable for a fine as they are technically an employer.

Those who would have been hit had the fines already been in place include the Government and Met Police - which employed illegal immigrant security guards not checked by the Security Industry Authority.

Shadow Home Secretary, David Davis, said: "Last week the Home Office was exposed as allowing 5,000 illegal immigrants to be employed in sensitive security posts.

"Now it is proposing fining the employers of illegal immigrants up to £10,000. Does the Government have an extra £50m in the budget to pay for its incompetence?

"Given the SIA shambles, the public and employers will have little confidence in the Government's ability to administer any sponsoring scheme."

The fines will operate alongside the Government's promised tighter immigration controls, including a points-based system for any non-EU citizen wanting to work in the UK.

Any employer who wants to employ a foreign worker - more than 1.1million have taken jobs since 1997 - must be cleared to act as a "sponsor".

Firms will be barred from doing so if they have a bad track-record for giving jobs to illegal immigrants. New rules will also apply to colleges, who must inform the authorities if an overseas student fails to turn up.

As well as being fined, firms caught employing illegal immigrants will lose their sponsor status - forcing them to employ EU workers only.

Mr Byrne said the fines would "provide a more effective means of encouraging employers to carry out proper checks".

He told MPs that identity cards would become compulsory for foreign workers, giving employers an easy way to check their status. Until then, they must rely on checking immigration documents which, in the past, have been easily forged.