Civil Penalty for Illegal Working: UK Employer Advice

A civil penalty is a financial penalty issued by the Home Office to employers who are found to have employed a person who does not have the legal right to work in the UK. Liability does not depend on whether the employer was aware of the worker's status. If you cannot produce evidence that you carried out the correct right-to-work check before the worker started employment, you are exposed to a penalty, regardless of intent.

Civil penalties for illegal working were significantly increased in February 2024 and remain at those levels in 2026. The maximum penalty is now up to £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach, and up to £60,000 per illegal worker for a repeat breach. Illegal working raids reached a record high in January 2025, with the Home Office reporting 828 visits and 609 arrests in that month alone, a 73% increase on the previous January.

The Statutory Excuse: Your Primary Defence

The single most important concept for any employer facing a civil penalty is the statutory excuse. If you can demonstrate that you carried out the correct, prescribed right-to-work check before the worker started employment, and that you retained the required evidence of that check, then liability should not arise, even if it later transpires that the worker did not have permission to work.

A statutory excuse is not established by just looking at a document. It is established by conducting the right type of check, in the right way, before employment begins. In 2026, this means using the Home Office online checking service for the vast majority of non-British and non-Irish workers. A manual check on a physical BRP is no longer an acceptable method and does not establish a statutory excuse. The specific check method required depends on the worker's nationality and immigration status.

Common reasons why a statutory excuse fails include: no check was conducted at all; the check was conducted after employment started; the wrong method was used; the evidence was not retained or cannot be located; or a follow-up check was not conducted when a time-limited permission expired. See our Right to Work Check guidance for the current correct check methods.

A Civil Penalty Notice is the Home Office's formal decision that you are liable for a penalty. It sets out the workers identified, the penalty amount, the due date for payment, and your rights to object or appeal. From the moment you receive it, timelines become critical. You have three options:

• Pay the penalty in full: For a first breach, a 30% fast payment reduction is available if you pay the full reduced amount within 21 days of the notice date. This option accepts liability.
• Arrange a payment plan: You can request to pay by instalments. However, arranging a payment plan on a first breach notice means you lose eligibility for the 30% fast payment reduction.
• Submit an objection: You can object in writing to the Home Office within 28 days of the due date specified in the Civil Penalty Notice. An objection challenges the penalty rather than accepting it.

If you are considering objecting, you must act quickly. The 28-day deadline is strict, and once it passes, your options narrow significantly.

Grounds for Objection

An objection to a civil penalty must be made in writing and must be based on one or more of the following accepted grounds:

• You are not liable: For example, the person identified was not employed by your organisation, or the alleged breach did not occur in the way described.
• You have a statutory excuse: You conducted a fully compliant, prescribed right-to-work check before the worker started employment, in the correct manner, and have retained the evidence. See the Home Office Code of Practice on preventing illegal working for what constitutes full compliance.
• The penalty is too high: The Home Office failed to apply mitigating factors, such as your having self-reported a suspected breach, actively cooperated with the investigation, or having effective right-to-work systems in place.

Your objection must be accompanied by right-to-work documentation, system records, payroll records, and any other material that directly supports your case. A poorly prepared objection can result in the penalty being maintained or even increased.

Read the government guidance on civil penalties for employers.

After the Objection: Next Steps

The Home Office will review your objection and issue an Objection Outcome Notice, which may cancel, reduce, or uphold the penalty. In some cases, a new notice with an increased penalty is issued. If the penalty is maintained on objection, a fresh 21-day fast payment period applies for first-breach penalties.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the objection, you can appeal to the County Court in England and Wales, or the Sheriff Court in Scotland, within 28 days of the Objection Outcome Notice. Courts have very limited discretion on penalty amounts, so the strength of your evidential case is everything.

Consequences Beyond the Fine

A civil penalty does not stand alone. For employers that also hold a sponsor licence, a civil penalty is treated by the Home Office as evidence of a compliance failure. A single civil penalty can trigger a sponsor licence compliance visit, a downgrade, a suspension, or in serious cases, revocation. It also creates a record that means all subsequent breaches will be treated as repeat offences for penalty calculation purposes.

In cases where an employer knew, or had reasonable cause to believe, that a worker did not have the right to work, the Home Office can also pursue criminal prosecution under section 21 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006. Criminal penalties include an unlimited fine and up to five years' imprisonment.