Arrests of migrants working illegally in the UK have doubled since Labour has been in government, the Home Office has said.
It said more than 17,000 arrests had been made since July 2024, a 122% increase on the previous two years, with a record number of immigration raids and arrests in the last six months.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “This surge in enforcement activity takes us to the highest level in British history. Illegal workers and rogue employers have nowhere to hide.”
Reform UK said Labour was “insulting the intelligence of the British public” with these new figures.
The number of people arrested during immigration raids on businesses was increasing before Labour took office in July 2024.
According to the figures, since then there has been a 50% rise in individuals being returned to their home countries, a total of 2,357.
Immigration raids in the first six months of this year increased to 7,270, a 31% increase on the same period last year, leading to 4,756 arrests, a 20% rise.
The highest arrest rates were in London, the West Midlands and South West England.
Some 1,256 arrests were made in the capital, up 32% on the same period in 2025.
Meanwhile, 701 arrests were made in the West Midlands and 693 in the South West – a 22% and 44% increase respectively.
Employers, including those in the beauty, retail and hospitality sectors, have been hit with £74m worth of civil penalties so far this year.
The figures include:
30 May: The arrests of 10 individuals for immigration offences out of 13 staff members encountered at a restaurant on the King’s Road in London
23 March: Visits targeting illegal construction workers leading to 15 arrests
11 June: Raids of two large delivery depots in Newbury, Berkshire, and Basingstoke, Hampshire, leading to nine arrests, mainly for overstaying and suspected illegal working
Opposition parties have warned that opportunities to work illegally in the UK act as a pull factor for migrants, encouraging people to cross the Channel in small boats.
Reform UK announced on Thursday it would pay members of the public for tip-offs that lead to successful prosecutions of High Street shops employing illegal workers.
The party pledged to fine large firms up to 10% of their global revenues and make chief executives and directors criminally liable for illegal working.
Responding to the new figures, Reform’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf said: “The British public can see the scourge of illegal working growing all around them. Labour is only insulting their intelligence by claiming it is not.”
The Home Office says it is already increasing penalties for companies hiring illegal workers.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said earlier this year that “illegal working is booming because Labour have turned Britain into a soft touch”.
Companies have a legal responsibility to verify that people they employ directly have the right to work in the UK. For agency workers, the responsibility lies with the agency to conduct the relevant checks.
From 1 October, employers caught hiring illegal workers in the gig economy, such as delivery riders, could face fines of up to £60,000 per illegal worker or five years in prison.
