Discover the importance of Annaizu Compliance Management in today's business landscape and how a Home Office compliance management platform can help your business streamline its compliance efforts, reduce risks, and stay ahead of regulations.
Illegal working enforcement in the UK has reached a new level. The BBC reports that more than 17,000 arrests were made between July 2024 and June 2026, a 122% increase compared with the previous two years.
For employers, the message is wider than the headline. Immigration Enforcement activity is increasing, right to work records are under closer scrutiny and sponsor licence compliance is being tested through more connected data. A check completed once and then forgotten is no longer a reliable compliance process.
What the latest enforcement figures show
According to the latest Home Office figures reported by the BBC, Immigration Enforcement carried out 7,270 visits in the first six months of 2026. That was 31% higher than in the same period of 2025.
Those visits led to 4,756 arrests, an increase of 20%. London recorded 1,256 arrests, while the West Midlands recorded 701 and the South West 693. Employers in sectors including hospitality, retail and beauty had also received £74 million in civil penalties during the first half of the year.
The data does not mean every visit leads to wrongdoing being established. It does show that enforcement is more active and that employers should be able to produce clear evidence of the checks and decisions behind every hire.
Sponsor licence action is also at a record level
Right to work checks need an evidence trail
Every UK employer is responsible for checking that a person has the right to work before employment begins. Where a person's permission is time-limited, a follow-up check must be completed at the correct point. The result should be retained in a form that shows what was checked, when it was checked and who completed it.
The process becomes fragile when a share code is copied into an email but the online result is not saved, a passport copy has no date, an employee's name differs between systems or a follow-up date sits only in one manager's calendar. Those are small operational gaps, but during an inspection they make it harder to establish a statutory excuse or explain the organisation's decision.
Annaizu's Right to Work checks help employers complete and retain a consistent verification record rather than relying on disconnected screenshots and reminders.
Sponsors face additional duties
Holding a sponsor licence adds ongoing responsibilities. Employers need accurate records for sponsored workers, reliable absence monitoring, evidence that the role and salary match the Certificate of Sponsorship and a process for reporting relevant changes through the Sponsor Management System.
The Home Office can compare information across payroll, tax and immigration records. A mismatch between the sponsored role, salary, hours, work location or employment status may therefore attract attention even before a physical compliance visit takes place.
This is why compliance cannot sit in a separate folder from everyday workforce management. Recruitment, onboarding, right to work, employee documents, attendance, payroll and sponsor reporting need to describe the same employment relationship.
Five checks employers should complete now
- Review every right to work record: confirm the correct method was used, the evidence is readable and the check was completed before employment began.
- Identify time-limited permission: make sure follow-up dates are recorded, assigned and escalated before permission expires.
- Reconcile sponsored worker data: compare the Certificate of Sponsorship, contract, payroll, rota, work location and employee record.
- Test reporting controls: check that changes in role, salary, location, absence or employment status reach the person responsible for the Sponsor Management System.
- Run a sample audit: choose several employee files and ask whether a manager could produce the full evidence trail promptly without searching across inboxes and spreadsheets.
What to expect during an enforcement visit
An inspection may test more than whether a document exists. Officers can examine how the business recruits, who conducts checks, how records are stored and whether the people working on site match the organisation's employment information.
Managers should know who will lead the response, where records are held and how to escalate a question they cannot answer. Staff should provide accurate information and avoid guessing. A documented process, supported by current records, is far more reliable than trying to reconstruct the position after officers arrive.
Build compliance into everyday operations
The latest enforcement figures are not simply a warning about raids. They show that immigration compliance is increasingly connected to ordinary workforce data. Employers need one dependable view of who was hired, how their status was checked, what work they perform, where they work and whether a change requires action.
Annaizu's sponsor compliance software brings employee records, document monitoring, reporting workflows and audit preparation together so that compliance evidence stays visible between checks.
The safest time to find a missing record is before an enforcement visit, licence review or audit. A structured internal review now can reveal the gaps that routine operations have allowed to build quietly.
Final takeaway
More visits, more arrests and record sponsor licence action all point in the same direction: employers are expected to know who is working for them and to prove that their processes are compliant.
A strong response starts with accurate right to work checks, connected employment records and clear ownership of sponsor duties. When the evidence is current and consistent, the organisation is better placed to protect its workforce, its statutory position and its sponsor licence.
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