Reform pledges to reward public for illegal working tip-offs

Reform UK says it would pay members of the public for tip-offs that lead to successful prosecutions of High Street shops employing illegal workers if it gains power.

The party's home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf said financial rewards under a "Turkish barbers tip line" would be paid from larger fines it would impose on firms using illegal employees.

It has pledged to fine larger firms up to 10% of their global revenues, and make bosses of companies employing illegal migrants personally liable for breaches.

The Home Office said it was already increasing penalties for companies hiring illegal workers. A source within the department called some of Reform's proposals "empty posturing".

Yusuf said that if Reform entered office, it would make chief executives and directors of large companies personally and criminally liable for illegal working, under legislation he dubbed the "Deliveroo law".

Last year the delivery company said it would strengthen security checks after the government raised concerns following reports that Channel migrants were able to rent out other people's accounts on the platform.

It said this included facial verification checks and fraud detection technology to ensure only registered account holders could work off their platforms.

Existing laws mean employers who knowingly employ individuals without the right to work can face up to five years in prison.

But Yusuf said Reform's new offence would apply irrespective of whether directors had "personal knowledge" of breaches, where a company had accumulated "material immigration breaches" or failed to conduct checks.

All platforms operating in Britain would have to designate a "UK accountable person" for the legislation, he added.

A spokesperson for Deliveroo said: "Illegal working should absolutely be addressed, and that's why we've led the industry in cracking down on the sophisticated, organised criminals who attempt to abuse our platform.

"We run Right to Work checks on all riders, conduct multiple daily identity checks and use cutting-edge fraud-detection technology, and we'd encourage other industries affected by illegal working to do the same".

Reform said it would also introduce a tip line for the public to report suspected illegal working or organised criminal activity.

Speaking at a news conference to unveil the policy, Yusuf said Reform would make it a legal duty for local authorities to investigate every "credible report" they receive.

He said the reward scheme would emulate a system in the United States that rewards whistleblowers with a share of fines imposed after successful prosecutions of serious financial crime.

He added: "In terms of the exact percentage, that would be in the final legislation that we pass."

He also promised measures to tackle the "decay" of British High Streets, including the number of "cash intensive businesses".

This would include a licensing scheme to cap the total number of vape shops at 1,000 nationally, which he said would be represent a 70% drop.

Companies have a legal responsibility to verify that people they employ directly have the right to work in the UK. For agency workers, the responsibility lies with the agency to conduct the relevant checks.

Last year the Labour government extended this requirement to self-employed contractors carrying out work on behalf of a company, as part of a bid to improve enforcement in casual jobs in the so-called gig economy.

There are sanctions including fines of up to £60,000 per unauthorised worker, but Yusuf said there was a need to increase the scale of the penalties, adding they only presented a "minor inconvenience" for bigger firms.

A Home Office source said of Reform's announcement: "The government is already doing much of this. The rest is just empty posturing."

A spokesperson for the department added that it was "already closing the loopholes that allow illegal migrants to work in the UK", and had increased illegal working arrests and raids.

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