Arrests for illegal working – including those employed in hand car washes – have soared to their highest levels since records began, reports the Home Office.
Under Operation Sterling, the government invested £5m into Immigration Enforcement, to target, arrest, detain, deport and return illegal workers in takeaways, beauty salons and car washes. New figures show more than 8,000 illegal migrants have been arrested after 11,000 raids were carried out by Immigration Enforcement from October 2024 to September 2025.
The data reveals a significant increase year-on-year of 63% and 51% for arrests and visits, respectively. And over 1,050 foreign nationals encountered on these operations have been removed from the country.
The news comes as the government is expanding right-to-work checks under new laws, to ensure it covers categories of employers where there are higher levels of illegal migrants seeking work, including gig economy employers.
While it is a criminal offence for migrants to work illegally, only companies using traditional employer-to-employee contracts are obliged to verify someone’s immigration status and whether it permits them to work in the UK. The new laws close this loophole, which the Home Office says means there will be no hiding place for illegal workers who flout the rules in the gig, casual, subcontracted and temporary worker economy. Bosses who fail to conduct these checks could be jailed for up to five years, face fines of £60,000 per illegal worker and have their businesses closed.
In the first quarter of 2025, almost £2.5m-worth of fines were handed to hand car wash operators after officials caught the businesses employing people with no right to work in the UK.
However, according to the Car Wash Association (CWA), these fines are not the deterrent the Home Office believes them to be.
Brian Madderson, chairman of the CWA, welcomed the latest crackdown on illegal workers, but says: “We have concerns that the Home Office are having difficulty collecting the fines. A Freedom of Information request found that only 5% of fines have been paid so far.”
The CWA has been working closely with Eddy Montgomery, senior director of enforcement, compliance and crime, and Madderson has nothing but praise for the work his department is doing but adds: “We worry that these crackdowns and the issuing of these fines is not the deterrent the government might think it is.
“What the CWA would like to see is that if a fine is not paid within 28 days, then the hand car wash is closed down. That would be a deterrent.
“I have a meeting next week with the new Minister of State (border security and asylum) Alex Norris and will be calling for a mandatory registration scheme for hand car washes.”
