The Prime Minister has announced an extra £1m of funding, and a new team of investigators tasked with tackling people who do not have the right to work in the UK, with hand car washes first in the initiative’s firing line.
The investigators will be under the control of the Gangmasters & Labour Abuse Authority, an executive body funded by the Home Office. The team will be tasked with seeking out firms that break employment and tax laws, and will initially focus on 5,000 hand car wash firms.
The news was welcomed by Brian Madderson, chairman of the Car Wash Association, who said: “By targeting these non-compliant businesses, our law-abiding members will not be undermined by those ignoring the rules. At long last measures are being enacted to provide a level playing field in this £2.5billion/year car wash sector.”
Keir Starmer said “It is too easy to work illegally in the UK, so the plan is all about dealing with the pull factors”.
Those with long memories may recall then-PM David Cameron who said: “The truth is it has been too easy to work illegally and employ illegal workers here” in 2015.
