A Coventry business that hired a Sri Lankan woman illegally has been fined by the Home Office. Earlsdon Convenience Store was raided as part of a major crackdown on illegal working in the West Midlands.
With illegal employment contributing to the rise of undocumented migrants across Britain, the Home Office has increased fines to £45,000. Raids have also been intensified across Coventry.
Earlsdon Convenience Store, on Albany Road, was raided in October 2024. Officials from Immigration Enforcement (IE) apprehended a 49-year-old Sri Lankan woman for overstaying her legal leave in the UK.
Bosses at Earlsdon Convenience Store were subsequently fined £45,000. Businesses across the Midlands were penalised by the Home Office as part of a region-wide initiative to clamp down on illegal working.
Chennai Parotta on Soho Road in Birmingham was found to have hired workers illegally and was fined £120,000. Stockfield Tyres Limited in Acocks Green also received a penalty of £40,000.
A spokesman for the Home Office said: “Illegal working undermines honest employers, undercuts local wages and fuels organised immigration crime. Since coming to power, enforcement action nationwide has increased, with visits and arrests up by around 50 per cent on the previous twelve months, and we will be stepping up that action further in the year ahead.”
In a warning to those employing illegal workers, they said: “You can be sent to jail for five years and have to pay an unlimited fine if you are found guilty of employing someone who you knew or had reasonable cause to believe did not have the right to work in the UK.”
