Holden Associates Blog

Reading the local newspaper yesterday evening I came across an article about raids the Border and Immigration Agency carried out in the local Victorian Seaside resort of Southport last Saturday.

Two restaurants were raided, resulting in a Turkish and one Tunisian man being taken away to face deportation. The owners and managers of these businesses now face being investigated to see if they knowingly flouted the laws on employing foreign nationals, they could be prosecuted.

This got me thinking, how easy is it to find out what you should do when employing foreign nationals, well fortunately our clients contact us, however, how many don’t contact their advisers and how many small businesses try to deal with it on their own, or worse still stick their head in the sand?

A quick search of the Revenues website returned the answers to employing foreign workers, in fact it was a mere four mouse clicks to get to the answer, so there is not really an excuse is there!

For those who are wondering here is a brief guide:

1. Check potential employees are entitled to work here in the UK, go to the Home Office Border & Immigration Agency Website which gives some very detailed guidance, or if you prefer give them a call on 0114 207 4074.
2. Do they have a National Insurance number? If not, there is guidance on the Revenues website.
3. You must pay them at least the National Minimum wage, which from 1 October 2007 is:
   £5.52 per hour for workers aged 22 years and older
   £4.60 for workers aged 18 - 21 inclusive
   £3.40 for workers under 18 who are no longer of compulsory school age

Once you have covered the above there is no reason you would have to expect a visit from the Border and Immigration Agency.