Several Indian nationals are among 171 delivery riders detained for illegal working during a country-wide enforcement sweep, the UK government said on Thursday, outlining details of a crackdown across cities and small towns.
Home Office Immigration Enforcement teams carried out “Operation Equalise” over seven days last month, stopping riders and checking documents in villages, towns and major urban centres. Those found to be working illegally — including riders from Bangladesh and China — were arrested immediately and detained for deportation.
“On 17 November, officers were deployed to the High Street in Newham,” the Home Office said, noting that four riders of Bangladeshi and Indian nationality were arrested for illegal working. “All four were detained for removal,” it added.
A further operation on 25 November in Norwich city centre led to three arrests of Indian nationals. Two were detained for removal, while the third was placed on strict immigration bail.
The Home Office said the actions form part of Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s “sweeping reforms” aimed at tightening rules on illegal migration and increasing deportations across Britain.
According to its latest data, the government claims its enforcement action to disrupt illegal working last year reached “record breaking levels”, with over 11,000 checks and 8,000 arrests – a 51 per cent and 63 per cent rise, respectively.
Nearly 50,000 people with no right to remain in the UK are said to have been removed since July 2024, with people smuggling arrests, convictions and seizures reportedly up by 33 per cent in the past 12 months.
“These results should send a clear message: if you are working illegally in this country, you will be arrested and removed,” said UK Border Security Minister Alex Norris.
Last week, Norris held meetings with food delivery majors Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats to discuss action being taken to tackle illegal working on their platforms and further steps required.
This includes the firms’ continued work to ramp up randomised facial recognition checks to tackle illicit account sharing and receiving the location of asylum hotels to monitor for illegal working hotspots, the Home Office said.
The UK authorities warn that criminals are using “dodgy shops on high streets” to hide serious crimes, from money laundering to illegal working, and undercutting genuine businesses.
“That’s why the government is relentlessly pursuing these criminals and their dirty money and has recovered 300 million pounds in criminal assets in the past year. Communities are also being backed with new powers to block some unwanted shops and giving them a greater say over what’s in their high streets,” the Home Office said.
This week, the UK’s Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill received Royal Assent to become law.
The government hopes the introduction of new powers to expand right to work checks to the gig or informal economy, including on delivery riders, will help further clamp down on illegal workers.
The legislation is designed to close existing loopholes, with bosses who fail to conduct stricter checks on their employees facing prison terms of up to five years, fines of 60,000 pounds per illegal worker and having their businesses shut down.