Articles by Kitty Donaldson

Politics

Illegal workers and dodgy firms face crackdown set to be announced in Budget

Dodgy car washes, nail bars and takeaways will face justice as part of a crackdown set to be announced by Rachel Reeves in the Budget. A new team of investigators – reporting to the Fair Work Agency – will be given £1m to root out firms that flout employment and tax laws. By targeting unscrupulous businesses, the initiative aims to ensure law-abiding businesses are not undercut by those ignoring the rules, making the system fairer for all. The team will co-ordinate with Immigration Enforcement and HMRC to ensure swift investigations and robust action against offenders. Sir Keir Starmer told reporters travelling with him on the way back from the G20 summit this evening (20 November): “We’ve put £1 million with a specialist team to do even more on illegal working. We’ve done a lot more in the last 12 months than has been done ever before, clamping down. “It is really important. It’s linked really with what the Home Secretary has been saying this week which is about dealing with the pull factors. It is too easy to work illegally in the UK, which is why we’re putting this extra money in, setting up the is extra resource. But it is on top of the improved numbers.” “The number of raids has gone up massively in the last 12 months, 16 months. The number of arrests and action we’ve taken, this then builds on that.” In the past year, enforcement teams made more than 8,000 arrests raiding in excess of 11,000 firms. It is part of a wider Government crackdown on illegal working in the UK, in an effort to deter those coming to the country illegally. Immigration Enforcement was handed £5m last month to arrest, detain and remove migrants working illegally at sites such as takeaways, beauty salons and car washes. There were 8,232 arrests of illegal workers in the year to September, up 63 per cent on the previous 12 months – a success rate of 73 per cent. In October alone, officers raided 1,737 premises, made 693 arrests and seized more than £10.7m in suspected criminal proceeds. The National Crime Agency has been targeting high street businesses, focusing in on money laundering. As part of Operation Machinize, a UK-wide project launched in March, more than 2,700 high street businesses including barbers, minimarts and vape shops have been raided in the biggest crackdown of its kind on money laundering. Officials say cash-rich businesses, which have proliferated on high streets in recent years, can be used for disguising dirty money, hiding drugs, people trafficking and smuggling tobacco and vapes. The Fair Work Agency is being set up to tackle how employment rights are enforced across the UK and will begin work in April 2026. Headed by the NHS Confederation chairman Matthew Taylor, it will have powers to investigate and tackle employers flouting the law.