UK illegal-working arrests double since Labour took office, Home Office says

Reform UK will pay public for tip-offs on illegal working

Arrests of migrants working illegally in the UK have more than doubled since Labour took office, the Home Office said, releasing figures that show a record pace of immigration raids over the past six months. The department counted more than 17,000 arrests since July 2024, a 122% increase on the previous two years.

The Home Office and opposition parties both cited the figures as evidence for their positions — the government crediting its enforcement drive, Reform UK and the Conservatives arguing the rise shows unlawful work is becoming more prevalent.

By the numbers

The enforcement data shows both the scale of the recent campaign and the trend that preceded it. The number of people arrested during immigration raids on businesses was already increasing before Labour took office in July 2024.

Immigration raids in the first six months of 2026 rose 31% on the same period last year, to 7,270, producing 4,756 arrests, up 20%. Since Labour took office, returns of individuals to their home countries have risen 50%, to a total of 2,357.

Arrest rates were highest in London, the West Midlands and South West England. Some 1,256 arrests were made in the capital, up 32% on the same period in 2025, while 701 arrests in the West Midlands and 693 in the South West marked increases of 22% and 44% respectively.

Employers, including those in the beauty, retail and hospitality sectors, have faced £74m in civil penalties so far this year. Home Office case examples include the arrests on 30 May of 10 individuals for immigration offences out of 13 staff members encountered at a restaurant on the King’s Road in London; visits on 23 March targeting illegal construction workers that led to 15 arrests; and raids on 11 June of two large delivery depots in Newbury, Berkshire, and Basingstoke, Hampshire, that produced nine arrests, mainly for overstaying and suspected illegal working.

Responses

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “This surge in enforcement activity takes us to the highest level in British history. Illegal workers and rogue employers have nowhere to hide.”

Opposition parties warned that opportunities to work illegally in the UK act as a pull factor for migrants, encouraging people to cross the Channel in small boats. Reform UK announced on Thursday it would pay members of the public for tip-offs that lead to successful prosecutions of High Street shops employing illegal workers, and pledged to fine large firms up to 10% of their global revenues and make chief executives and directors criminally liable for illegal working.

Reform’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf said: “The British public can see the scourge of illegal working growing all around them. Labour is only insulting their intelligence by claiming it is not.”

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said earlier this year that “illegal working is booming because Labour have turned Britain into a soft touch.”

On the enforcement tools the figures reflect, companies have a legal responsibility to verify that people they employ directly have the right to work in the UK; for agency workers, the responsibility lies with the agency to conduct the relevant checks. From 1 October, employers caught hiring illegal workers in the gig economy, such as delivery riders, could face fines of up to £60,000 per illegal worker or five years in prison. The Home Office says it is already increasing penalties for companies hiring illegal workers.