Member Article

Employing migrant workers

By Elaine Inglis from Business Link

Some people are automatically entitled to work in the UK while others may have restrictions on how long they can stay, whether they can work or the type of work they can do. Legal migrants from around the world make a substantial contribution to society and help to fill vital skill shortages. If you employ, or plan to employ, people from outside the UK, you need to make sure that they are entitled to work here before they start working for you.

To help North East businesses comply with this, we’ve launched a new online tool called ‘check the eligibility of your migrant workers’.This interactive tool uses a short questionnaire to help you comply with the law and avoid fines and prosecution. It provides help and information for employers to make the necessary checks on potential staff by taking you through all the steps you need to complete to ensure that a person is legally allowed to work in the UK.

To help the region’s businesses comply with regulations like these, the Business Link website includes a range of handy, user-friendly tools and guides that can be accessed at the touch of a button, so you don’t even have to pick up the phone or leave the comfort of your home or office.

This tool is just one of the features on the website’s newly enhanced employing people section, which also includes other tools, advice and guides on equal opportunities, pension schemes, employing different types of workers as well as a broad range of areas of business support.

To provide further information to the region’s businesses, the ‘ensuring your workers are eligible to work in the UK’ guide tells you how to ensure that all your potential employees are legally entitled to work in the UK. It also outlines how employers are affected by laws preventing illegal working.

The Business Link website enables you to access key information at the touch of a button 24 hours a day, seven days a week, however if you would like if you would like to discuss this with one of our team we’re always at end of the phone. Business Link’s substantial team of expert brokers operate across the region in local access points and on a mobile basis. For further information about Business Link, visit www.businesslinknortheast.co.uk or call 0845 600 9 006.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .