Illegal working activity from 5 July 2024 to 22 March 2025
Updated 31 March 2025
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This note provides an overview of the ongoing effort to tackle the illegal employment and exploitation of vulnerable people in the UK, since early July. It is intended to provide the public with clear and timely statistics in an area of high public interest.
Illegal working
The number of illegal working visits has increased by 40% and arrests have gone up by 42% since 5 July 2024 (to 22 March 2025), compared to the same period 12 months prior. There were 4,841 visits from 5 July 2023 to 22 March 2024 with 3,375 arrests, while 5 July 2024 to 22 March 2025 saw 6,784 visits with 4,779 arrests.
Since 5 July 2024 (to 22 March 2025), we have issued 1,508 civil penalty notices, with employers facing fines of up to £60,000 per illegal worker.
Revisions to the statistics
The data and statistics contained within this notice are provisional and taken from live operational systems on 25 March 2025 and as a result, figures are subject to further revision and change.
Definitions and further data on enforcement visits and outcomes since 2019 were reported in Additional statistics relating to Illegal Migration (April 2024).
The Home Office will publish comprehensive statistics on immigration enforcement activity in the next Immigration system statistics quarterly release.