ID Cards on Trial: Illegal working myth exposed

Government claims that the introduction of the £5.8bn ID card scheme will tackle illegal working in the UK have come under fire.

Tackling illegal working is stated as one of the key "policy outcomes" of the ID cards bill by the Home Office, which claims the ID cards will provide employers with a simple way of verifying an employee when taking up a job.

But newly released figures by the Home Office show there are in reality few prosecutions against rogue employers who take on illegal workers.

Home Office Minister Tony McNulty told MPs that prosecutions have been brought in magistrates courts against just 23 firms between 1999 and 2003 under the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996. There is no guidance from the Home Office on how many of those prosecutions were in fact successful.

Critics argue ID cards would have little impact on the many firms who would still employ illegal workers even with the introduction of the cards but the Home Office claims ID cards will make it easier to prosecute those rogue employers.

"The availability of a highly secure, easily verifiable ID card as an option would make it easier to take action against unscrupulous employers as they would have less of a defence should they choose not to carry out appropriate checks," the Home Office's regulatory impact assessment said.

But Dr Edgar A Whitley, reader in information systems at the London School of Economics and supporter of the silicon.com ID Cards on Trial campaign, said: "Once again, the ID card is being put forward as an expensive solution looking for a problem. The government already has in place many safeguards for controlling illegal working in the UK."

The Home Office did not return a request for comment.