Migrants crossing the English Channel (Image: Getty)
Rogue employers and landlords undermining efforts to end the small boats crisis are just as “deplorable” as the smuggling gangs, the Illegal Migration Minister has declared.
Michael Tomlinson said the promise of “work and housing” is the only thing some migrants need to risk their lives crossing the Channel.
The Home Office revealed it is hitting more rogue employers with fines, with 1,471 penalised between January and November 2023.
Ministers on Tuesday confirmed dodgy landlords and bosses who hire illegal migrants could be fined up to ￡60,000 – treble the previous rate.
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Mr Tomlinson told the Daily Express: “Rogue employers and landlords who support illegal migrants undermine our efforts to tackle illegal migration, making them just as deplorable as the evil people smuggling gangs.
“They willingly disregard our laws, undercut the British people, and put vulnerable people at risk of exploitation when they allow illegal migrants to live and work here.
“The promise of work and housing can be the only incentive people need to make dangerous and unnecessary journeys to the UK.
“That is why we are cracking down on employers and landlords who encourage illegal migration to deter people from coming here illegally across the Channel.”
Ministers on Tuesday confirmed dodgy landlords and bosses who hire illegal migrants could be fined up to ￡60,000 – treble the previous rate.
Rogue employers and landlords who support illegal migrants undermine our efforts to tackle illegal migration, making them just as deplorable as the evil people smuggling gangs.
Thousands of migrants are hoping to cross the English Channel (Image: Getty)
Patrols have stepped up across France (Image: Getty)
By comparison, 4,500 were hit in the pocket between the start of 2018 and the start of 2023.
In total, the Home Office has fined employers more than ￡105 million.
Meanwhile, landlords have been hit with over 400 civil penalties worth a total of over ￡330k between 2018 and the end of 2023.
Employers will now be fined ￡45,000 – up from ￡15,000 – for their first breach. Repeat offenders will be charged ￡60,000 – up from ￡20,000.
Landlords will be handed ￡5,000 fines per lodger and ￡10,000 per occupier for a first breach - up from ￡80 and ￡1,000 - and repeated breaches will double that.
Ministers argue that reducing the “pull factor of a promise of work and a place to live” for people considering crossing the Channel in small boats will help prevent smugglers.
Employers will now be fined ￡45,000 – up from ￡15,000 – for their first breach. Repeat offenders will be charged ￡60,000 – up from ￡20,000.
Landlords will be handed ￡5,000 fines per lodger and ￡10,000 per occupier for a first breach - up from ￡80 and ￡1,000 - and repeated breaches will double that.
Ministers argue that reducing the “pull factor of a promise of work and a place to live” for people considering crossing the Channel in small boats will help prevent smugglers.
The boats used by people smugglers have become flimsier and bigger (Image: Getty)
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It is unknown exactly how many people are in the UK illegally. But some 29,437 migrants crossed the English Channel in small boats last year.
More are believed to have arrived in the backs of lorries and at airports carrying false identity documents.
The Home Office is offering landlords five-year contracts to house more than 58,000 asylum seekers currently in hotels.
Putting migrants up in rented accommodation could cost as little as ￡30 a day, compared with ￡150 a day for hotels.
Taxpayers are currently forking out nearly ￡8 million per day on hotel rooms.
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A stock of 16,000 properties has been built up for asylum seekers, it is understood.
A Home Office insider said: “"There is a shift away from hotels to putting people into housing which on one level is not a bad idea but on another level, on the scale it is being done, is going to have quite a significant impact in areas where it is being done at scale.
"That's 16,000 properties that would normally be available to families looking for somewhere to rent and live, and often to get themselves off the local housing register."
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