Some 349 illegal foreign staff have been given jobs with Whitehall departments, councils and NHS Trusts over the past four years according to information obtained by the Mail on Sunday under the Freedom of Information Act and reported on January 3rd 2010. This raises the increasing issue of the use of temporary and agency personnel and how you can ensure that the staff provided are not illegal workers.
The Home Office admitted employing a dozen illegal workers, 11 Nigerians and a Ghanaian. Ten of them were cleaners at Beckett House, the headquarters of the UK Border Agency, which is responsible for vetting immigrants. The two others worked as a chef and a security guard at the Home Office itself – regarded as among the country’s most likely terrorist targets. Altogether, three Government departments, 34 local authorities and 54 NHS Trusts admitted hiring a total of 249 illegal’s since 2006. Six were employed as teachers at secondary schools, while four became doctors, according to the newspaper. Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said: “The most worrying thing about this is that the Home Office clearly carried on employing illegal immigrants despite being warned two years ago that there was a problem. “It suggests that the security in the Home Office is inadequate and that Ministers are complacent about the issue.” But a spokeswoman for the Home Office said: “The 12 illegal workers identified since 2006 were all sub-contractors, none of them were directly employed by the Home Office” and that “It was our checks and the strict regime we operate on illegal working in the UK that brought these cases to light.”
Norman Mortell, Director at Agenda Security Services commented “Unfortunately agencies are the soft underbelly for illegal workers in terms of gaining employment, more organisations have moved to the use of agencies in recent years, many agencies providing an excellent service. But, a report to be published in early 2010 by Agenda shows that agencies pre-employment checking processes may not always meet current requirements. Having recently audited 50 agencies supplying temps and contract personnel we are not surprised by the illegal workers being identified as sub-contractors working within the Home Office”.
He went onto say “The use of agencies is perfectly acceptable as long as:
- You have definitive evidence that they have carried out the required pre-employment and right to work checks,
- That you have reviewed or audited their processes to ensure that they comply for example with the Governments Baseline Personnel Security Standard,
- That they are managing your data securely and complying with the Data Protection Act etc.,
- That you have policies in place that cover not only the screening of your own full time staff but also those supplied by third parties and,
- Finally, the requirement to screen to an appropriate level should be a contractual requirement prior to the agency providing any staff.”
The following link shows the full article from the Mail on Sunday:
Agenda has vast experience in implementing third party screening processes, auditing suppliers and in the development of appropriate and up-to date policies, if you require advice or assistance please contact info@agenda-security.co.uk or call 08456 445546.
