More than 8,000 illegal migrant workers arrested in major crackdown on murky 'gig economy'

Immigration enforcement carried out 11,000 raids in the year to September, the highest number since records began.

This was a 51 per cent increase on the previous year which saw only 7,343.

More than 1,050 foreign nationals who were caught in the raids have now been deported.

Immigration enforcement was given £5million to arrest, detain and remove migrants working illegally at sites such as takeaways, beauty salons and car washes.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: "Illegal working creates an incentive for people attempting to arrive in this country illegally. No more.

"Those found to be illegally working in beauty salons, car washes and as delivery drivers will be arrested, detained and removed from this country.

"I will do whatever it takes to secure Britain’s borders.”

Maximum sentences have increased to five years' imprisonment, while financial penalties can reach £60,000 per unauthorised employee found on the premises.

The new regulations extend right-to-work verification requirements to gig economy workers, with businesses risking closure for noncompliance.

Ministers are hoping this dampens the so-called "magnet" of illegal working in order to deter small boat migrants making the crossing to Britain.

The UK Government says it is working closely with industry partners, including food delivery companies Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats.

These partnerships involve sharing data about hotels housing asylum seekers, enabling authorities to identify individuals working as delivery riders whilst prohibited from employment.

The Home Office confirmed that these information-sharing agreements aim to prevent asylum seekers from undertaking unauthorised delivery work.

In Scotland, the number of arrests and visits of illegal workers has risen by almost a third.

The Home Office’s Immigration Enforcement section arrested more than 350 illegal workers in Scotland and carried out more than 500 visits between October 2024 and September 2025.

In August, an enforcement visit to a restaurant in Lochgelly, Fife, resulted in two men of Pakistani and Indian nationality being arrested for alleged illegal working.

The following month, officers arrested two Indian nationals at a Highland restaurant in Fort William.

Then, in October, five arrests were made at a takeaway in Aberdeen.

Immigration Enforcement said civil penalty referral notices were served on all three premises, meaning they could face fines if found liable.