How do you avoid Immigration issues with your employees?
Following the recent immigration issues raised by the Byron case, Craig Allen, from The Change Group has some advice to offer restaurants in the industry on how to avoid immigration issues when recruiting.
“I think there is a lot to be learnt for employers following the shocking Byron Burger incident. First and foremost, it highlights the fact that it is as easy for potential employees to fake their documentation and right to work in the UK as it is for employers to overlook it. Since the implementation of the 2016 Immigration Act, there are now tougher sanctions on employers hiring illegal staff, including heavy fines, closure of premises and custodial sentences. In my opinion, there are a number of basic checks that employers can use to ensure that incidents similar to that of Byron Burger can be avoided. These checks can be completed in three simply steps.
"Firstly, potential employees should provide acceptable documentation, and employers must only accept the original copy of these.
"Secondly, you must take all the reasonable steps to ensure that a document is genuine and the holder is the person named in said documents. This can be done by checking that photographs are consistent across all the documents (and with the appearance of the person), checking that birth dates are consistent across all documents, checking that expiry dates have not passed, and that the person has official UK immigration endorsements, should they require them. If there is any doubt whatsoever then clarification can be obtained by calling the home office to check and we would always advise employers to use this service as we do.
"Lastly, a copy of the document must be taken in a format, which cannot later be altered, for example, a photocopy in a PDF. To take further caution, some may want to consider a document scanner similar to those used at airports to ensure that all documents are not counterfeit.”
