Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has ordered a nationwide immigration "enforcement crackdown" targeting illegal working in the gig economy. Officers will carry out checks in hotspots across the country where they suspect asylum seekers are working as delivery riders without permission.
The move comes after Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat agreed to ramp up facial verification and fraud checks following conversations with ministers. Last week, shadow home secretary Chris Philp (Conservative) claimed to have found evidence of people working illegally for food delivery firms during a visit to a hotel housing asylum seekers.
Government threatens support cuts
Anyone caught "flagrantly abusing the system" will face having state support discontinued, whether accommodation or payments, the Home Office said on Saturday. Strategic, intelligence-driven activity will bring together officers across the UK with increased focus on migrants suspected of working illegally whilst in taxpayer-funded accommodation or receiving financial support.
The Home Office emphasised that asylum seekers are only entitled to support if they would otherwise be destitute. Businesses illegally employing people will face fines of up to £60,000 per worker, director disqualifications and potential prison sentences of up to five years.
Record Channel crossings continue
Asylum seekers in the UK are normally barred from work while their claim is being processed, though permission can be applied for after a year of waiting. The crackdown comes as the Government struggles with its pledge to "smash the gangs" of people-smugglers facilitating small boat crossings in the English Channel.
Some 20,600 people have made the journey so far in 2025, up 52 per cent on the same period in 2024. Cooper said illegal working "undermines honest business and undercuts local wages" and the British public would not stand for it.
Ministers cite exploitation concerns
"Often those travelling to the UK illegally are sold a lie by the people-smuggling gangs that they will be able to live and work freely in this country," Cooper said. "In reality they end up facing squalid living conditions, minimal pay and inhumane working hours."
Home Office director of enforcement Eddy Montgomery said the coordinated activity would target those seeking to work illegally in the gig economy. "If you are found to be working with no legal right to do so, we will use the full force of powers available to us," he said.
Delivery firms strengthen checks
Deliveroo said the firm takes a "zero tolerance approach" to abuse on the platform, despite measures put in place over the last year. The company acknowledged that "criminals continue to seek new ways to abuse the system."
Uber Eats said they would continue investing in tools to detect illegal work and remove fraudulent accounts. Just Eat said it was committed to strengthening safeguards "in response to these complex and evolving challenges."
Opposition demands prosecution
Responding to the announcement, Philp said it should not have taken a visit to an asylum hotel by him to "shame the Government into action". He called for investigation into potential wrongdoing by delivery platforms and prosecution if there was a case to answer.
Philp described illegal working as "a very serious issue" because it acts as a pull factor for illegal immigration, with people smugglers actually advertising it. He also claimed women and girls were being put at risk because deliveries were being made by people "from nationalities we know have very high rates of sex offending", without specifying which nationalities he was referring to.
(PA) Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
