208 UK Firms Fined £9.3m for Illegal Working Kept on Sponsor Register
October 14, 2026 · Frisian News
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Two hundred and eight companies fined a combined £9.3 million for employing illegal workers remain on the Home Office visa sponsor register, a GB News investigation with Cambridge Circus Research has found. Official guidance says licences should be revoked, but the register does not reflect that in every case.
Two hundred and eight companies fined a combined £9.3 million for employing illegal workers remain on the Home Office visa sponsor register without a break, a GB News investigation with Cambridge Circus Research has found.
The list covers care companies, fast food outlets, petrol stations, corner shops, bars, cafes and a car dealership. Each received a civil penalty. Each kept its licence to recruit workers from overseas.
Official Home Office guidance states licences will be revoked after two or more illegal-working fines when one reaches the maximum penalty. The department will also normally revoke where firms fail sponsor duties or employ workers without permission. GB News reported it is unclear how many of the 208 cases met that bar.
GB News contacted the Home Office for comment. When BBC Verify published related findings in August, a Home Office spokesperson stated: "Illegal working will not be accepted, and businesses who face two or more illegal working penalties of up to £60,000, or fail to pay a penalty the first time, will have their licence to hire workers revoked."
Those findings are not isolated. BBC Verify, in a separate investigation published in August, identified 60 businesses on the same register fined for employing illegal workers between April 2024 and December 2025, carrying a combined penalty of £2.5 million.
Home Office civil penalty rules set the maximum fine at £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach and £60,000 per worker for a repeat offence within three years. A company can absorb those fines, remain listed, and continue recruiting from abroad. More than 120,000 businesses hold a sponsor licence, BBC Verify reported.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told GB News the situation is "totally unacceptable" and called for tougher criminal sanctions against employers who hire illegally for cheap labour. He said Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood lacks the will to crack down on illegal working or end mass low-skilled migration. Rob Bates of the Centre for Migration Control told GB News the register is "a complete mess" and "a plaything for unscrupulous businesses that play fast and loose with immigration law," and that a complete overhaul is required.
The Home Office revoked 3,299 licences in 2025, up from 347 in 2023, BBC Verify found. It is unclear how many of the 208 fined firms met the threshold for revocation, GB News reported.
Published October 14, 2026 · Frisian News