The attorney general, Baroness Scotland, has been fined £5,000 for employing an illegal worker as her housekeeper.
As minister of state at the Home Office, Baroness Scotland helped steer the Immigration, Nationality and Asylum Act 2006 through the House of Lords: the Act which introduced on-the-spot civil fines for employing illegal immigrants.
Lin Homer, chief executive of the UK Border Agency, says the agency was satisfied Lady Scotland did not “knowingly employ” the worker, Loloahi Tapui of Tonga, illegally.
The agency was also satisfied that the attorney general took steps to check Tapui’s documents, although she failed to keep copies.
Homer says: “A variable rate of fine can be imposed depending on the circumstances of a case. Employers who co-operate with investigations, as in this case, who have no previous record of employing people illegally, or who can show they made some effort to check the status of an employee, are not normally fined at the maximum level of £10,000. In this case we have assessed the appropriate level of penalty to be £5,000. The fine is in line with the level of fines imposed on other employers.”
The agency says the case will serve to remind all employers that they are responsible not only for checking the immigration status of their staff but for retaining proof of the documents checked.
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