The Home Office has announced the launch of ‘Operation Magnify’, a focused attempt to deploy government muscle to target businesses that are employing and exploiting illegal migrant workers.
The Immigration Minister, James Brokenshire, yesterday hosted a meeting with construction industry leaders about plans to end illegal working in the sector.
“Illegal working undermines legitimate employers, harms the reputation of the industry, drives down wages and denies employment to people who are working in the UK legally,” Brokenshire commented in a statement.
“Employers within the construction industry have a critical role to play in helping to combat this by ensuring they carry out the straightforward ‘Right to Work’ checks on potential employees that prevent illegal working in the UK.”
The roundtable event also acted as an opportunity for those in the construction industry to share their experiences of illegal working in the sector, find out more about measures introduced by the government to tackle the problem, and discuss what more can be done.
Those attending included representatives from construction companies working across the public and commercial sectors and industry bodies including the Construction Industry Council, the Chartered Institute of Building and Build UK.
Robert joined the HRreview editorial team in October 2015. After graduating from the University of Salford in 2009 with a BA in Politics, Robert has spent several years working in print and online journalism in Manchester and London. In the past he has been part of editorial teams at Flux Magazine, Mondo*Arc Magazine and The Marine Professional.
