HUMAN RESOURCES NEWS BULLETINS

CHANGES IN THE ASYLUM AND IMMIGRATION ACT

New legislation came into force on 29th February 2008 regarding changes to the Asylum and Immigration Act whereby employers are required to undertake further checks to ensure employees have the necessary documentation.

You now need to demonstrate that you have complied with the requirements of checking and copying one, or a specified combination of the original documents as set out in the Specified Documents Lists, known as List A and List B.

Whilst there is no law that says you are legally required to conduct the checks, it is best to conduct all the changed checks to all new employees as if challenged about the legality of an employee, you will need to be able to establish the excuse for the checking of the required documents. This also includes putting in place a system of checking documents for all migrant workers every 12 months.

These checks need to be undertaken for every new employee at the same time during the recruitment process before the employee starts work. Therefore, in order to establish a valid defence to show that you have complied with the changes, employers should implement a 3-Step Test for checking documents. Following this test will amount to a statutory excuse and ensure that you are not convicted for unknowingly employing a person illegally for which the penalty could be a fine of up to £10,000 for each employee found to be working illegally and a new criminal offence for employers that will carry a maximum 2 year prison sentence and / or an unlimited fine.

The basis of the change is that you will need to:

• Obtain the original documents
• Check the original documents
• Save copies of the documents

To help you understand and implement the changes we have summarised the changes in our 3 Step Process Guidelines that you can can view online here or download here.

These changes also affect the way you recruit in that you need to send the Specified Documents List out with invites to interview and ensure that at interviews you check that all interviewees can legally work in the UK.

This also means that you need to update your:

• Offer Letters
• New Employee Checklists
• Induction Checklists

Also, the Specified Documents list has changed and it is worth noting that employees that are required to give documents under the new List B cannot just provide a National Insurance Number. Our retained clients will be receiving this updated Specified Documents List shortly.

If you would like us to talk to you about how you can get this process right along with updating your current documentation, please do not hesitate to contact us onenquiries@hrsolutions-uk.com or your dedicated account manager.

Published: Feb 2008
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