Changes in the Asylum and Immigration Act
01 February 2008
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.
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 on enquiries@hrsolutions-uk.com or your dedicated account manager.