Illegal workers employed by the UK Government

Some of the UK’s most sensitive senior offices have been accused of employing scores of illegal workers.

Under the Freedom of Information Act a British newspaper was able to source information which indicated that in the past four years various NHS trusts, councils and Whitehall departments have hired some 349 illegal migrant workers.

The Home Office itself has already admitted that during this period one dozen illegal foreign workers were employed by the authority charged with the prevention of such practices. 12 Africans – one Ghanaian and 11 Nigerians – were hired as part of the cleaning staff at, of all places, the UK Border Agency headquarters at Beckett House.

Furthermore, one migrant was employed as a security guard and yet another as a chef in perhaps the most delicate of all locations – the Home Office itself. The national office is considered one of the most likely targets of a terrorist attack in Britain.

In total, there were 249 illegal workers acknowledged as working across three government departments, 54 NHS Trusts and 34 local authorities in the past four years since 2006. Some of these were employed as doctors while others held teaching positions.

Chris Grayling, the shadow home secretary, expressed disbelief at the events particularly as the Home Office had been previously warned that the practice was widespread and potentially dangerous. Grayling called ministers complacent about the subject they are meant to oversee and argued that Home Office security was woefully inadequate.

A spokesperson for the Home Office has rubbished the claims, saying that only a dozen illegal workers had been employed across government departments – none of them in the Home Office itself.