Undocumented Workers: Fines
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many businesses were (a) fined and (b) prosecuted for employing illegal immigrants each year since 2015.
Answered by Alex Norris
In 2015, 2206 civil penalties were issued for illegal working. Information on illegal working civil penalty statistics has been published since 2016 as part of the Home Office Immigration Transparency Data and can be found at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68a3015732d2c63f8693437d/immigration-enforcement-data-apr-jun-2025.ods on tab CP02.
The data reflects the total number of penalties issued, rather than the number of businesses affected, as fines have been imposed on both sole traders and limited companies.
The below table provides the number of convictions for employing illegal workers since 2015. Prosecution is targeted at the most persistent offenders.
Year | Individuals convicted for employing illegal workers |
2015 | 4 |
2016 | 8 |
2017 | 4 |
2024 | 1 |
Total | 17 |
Verbatim has judged this answer against the question that was actually asked — answered, partly answered, or evaded. Sign in to see the verdict →