Home Office Enforcement in 2024: What Changed and What It Means for UK Employers
Quick answer
From 13 February 2024 the maximum civil penalty for employing an illegal worker rose from £15,000 to £45,000 per worker for a first breach, and from £20,000 to £60,000 for a repeat breach. Enforcement visits are unannounced and intelligence-led, with construction, care, hospitality, security and cleaning as active target sectors.
February 2024 brought the biggest change to illegal working civil penalties in over a decade: the maximum fine doubled and the Home Office stepped up enforcement visits. If you run a business in construction, hospitality, care or security, you sit in one of the most actively targeted sectors. The rest of this guide sets out what changed and what to do about it.
What changed on 13 February 2024
The government increased civil penalties under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006. Maximum penalties rose from £15,000 to £45,000 per worker for a first breach. Repeat-offence penalties rose from £20,000 to £60,000 per worker. These changes were introduced alongside the government's commitment to increase enforcement activity, meaning more visits, more penalties and higher stakes.
Breach type
Max penalty per worker
First breach (negligent)
£45,000
Repeat breach
£60,000
First breach (deliberate)
£60,000
Which sectors are most targeted
Home Office enforcement is not random. It is intelligence-led and sector-focused. Construction, hospitality (restaurants, hotels, food service), care (care homes and domiciliary care), security, and cleaning and FM are all active enforcement targets due to their high proportions of workers with time-limited right to work. If your business falls into one of these categories, the probability of an enforcement visit is higher than the national average.
How enforcement visits work
Enforcement visits are unannounced. An officer may arrive at your premises at any time during business hours and request access to your Right-to-Work records for all workers on site. You cannot delay the visit to 'get your records in order'. You are legally required to cooperate. If your records are incomplete, out of date or missing, the penalty process begins immediately.
What protects you
The statutory excuse protects employers who: (a) conducted a Right-to-Work check before employment started; (b) checked a document from the correct Home Office list; and (c) conducted timely re-checks for workers with time-limited leave. The key word is timely. Late re-checks, even by one day, do not give you the statutory excuse for the period the worker was working without confirmed right to work.
Frequently asked questions
How much did right-to-work fines increase in 2024?
From 13 February 2024 the maximum civil penalty rose from £15,000 to £45,000 per worker for a first breach, and from £20,000 to £60,000 per worker for a repeat breach. The increase was set in the Code of Practice on the civil penalty scheme.
Are Home Office enforcement visits announced in advance?
No. Visits are unannounced and intelligence-led. An officer can arrive during business hours and ask to see right-to-work records for workers on site, and you can't delay to put your records in order first.
What protects an employer during an enforcement visit?
A statutory excuse: a correct right-to-work check carried out before employment started, using a document from the correct Home Office list, plus a timely follow-up check for any worker with time-limited leave.
This is general information, not legal or immigration advice — check the linked GOV.UK guidance
or a qualified adviser for your situation. Last reviewed against current
official guidance on 2 June 2026.