Home Office ‘ignoring illegal workers’
The government’s determination to clamp down on failed asylum seekers staying in the UK means thousands of illegal workers are being ignored, it has been claimed.
John Tincey, the vice chairman of the Immigration Service union (ISU), said that staff had even been penalised for spending too much time looking for illegal workers.
“This has been the situation for a number of years because the priorities set by the Home Office are to arrest failed asylum seekers. Other immigration offences, such as illegal working, are very much on the back burner,” he told Today.
His claims come as a new survey of recruitment agencies finds widespread concern with the Immigration Services’ attitude to illegal working.
The Home Office insisted it was committed to tackling the problem, although a spokesman stressed that “resources and operations always have to be prioritised, to maximise the number of people we remove and for reasons of public protection”.
Today’s poll by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) finds 77 per cent of agencies have seen identity papers and work permits they suspect to be false.
But about three in ten found the means of reporting these concerns to the Immigration Service inadequate and 47 per cent felt that decisive action was not taken.
“The Home Office needs to fulfil its side of the bargain if it expects greater reporting of suspected illegal workers from businesses,” said REC acting chief executive Marcia Roberts.
“At a time when the government is considering even greater penalties against employers who use illegal workers, it is paramount that they support that vast majority of employers who want to employ people correctly.”
Mr Tincey explained that tackling the backlog of asylum seekers – something the government has promised to do within five years – was the “only priority”.
“When you talk to managers, what they say is ‘my job is on the line. If I don’t achieve my target for removing failed asylum seekers I will be moved or I won’t get promoted’,” he said.
Shadow home secretary David Davis said the revelation was “no surprise”, warning: “The government has form for waving through and turning a blind eye to illegal immigrants or those with suspect documentation. Three years ago a minister lost her job over it.
“The prime minister has set his reputation on the removal of failed asylum seekers but it’s just one artificial target, and as a consequence of trying to meet it and generate good headlines the government is neglecting other vital areas like the foreign prisoners fiasco.”
However, the Home Office spokesman said the funding for the Immigration and Nationality Directorate’s (IND’s) enforcement operations would be doubled by 2009 and noted a new cross-government initiative aimed at tackling illegal working was being introduced.
“Dealing with those who overstay and tackling illegal working is at the heart of the new strategic objectives that the home secretary has set for the IND,” he added.
