{"id":63997,"date":"2015-11-11T12:56:43","date_gmt":"2015-11-11T12:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=9407e079a58612a595b25c684939a331"},"modified":"2015-11-11T12:56:43","modified_gmt":"2015-11-11T12:56:43","slug":"news-story-measures-to-introduce-mandatory-right-to-work-checks-on-taxi-and-private-hire-drivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=63997","title":{"rendered":"News story: Measures to introduce mandatory right to work checks on taxi and private hire drivers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>The proposals mean licensing authorities must conduct checks on applicants to ensure they are in the UK lawfully, and that they have permission to work before granting a licence.<\/p>\n<p>Under the plans, driver and operator licences can\u2019t be issued for a period any longer than the length of a person\u2019s permission to live and work in the UK. Immigration offences and penalties will also be grounds for a licensing authority to revoke a licence. <\/p>\n<p>It will also be an offence for someone disqualified from continuing to hold a driver or operator licence for immigration reasons not to return their licence to the licensing authority.<\/p>\n<p>Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We have already made it harder for people to live and work in the UK illegally through the Immigration Act 2014 \u2014 and this Immigration Bill goes even further.<\/p>\n<p>Taxi and private hire drivers are usually self-employed and therefore not subject to existing right to work checks conducted by employers. This leaves scope for exploitation by illegal workers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Through the Immigration Bill we want to ensure drivers and operators are in the UK legally \u2013 and have the right to work.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Licensing authorities already conduct checks to determine whether someone is \u2018fit and proper\u2019 to hold a driver or operator licence. However, they have discretion over the type of checks made and although many conduct immigration checks, these are not mandatory.<\/p>\n<p>The changes are in line with other measures in the Bill covering the licensing regime for premises involved in the sale of alcohol and late night refreshments.<\/p>\n<p>The bill, which was published on 17 September, includes a range of new powers to deter people from trying to find work here illegally and deal more effectively with rogue businesses who offer them employment. These include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>a new offence of illegal working, which will make clear that we can seize and confiscate an illegal worker\u2019s earnings<\/li>\n<li>the introduction of powers to close a business which continues to flout the law<\/li>\n<li>a change in the law on deliberately employing illegal workers to enable more prosecutions of rogue businesses<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The amendments regarding taxi and private hire drivers were laid on Thursday 5 November and will now be considered during the bill\u2019s progress through Parliament.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Taxi and private hire drivers will have to prove they are in the UK legally before being granted licences, under new powers in the Immigration Bill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63997"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63997\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}