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Law chief’s job in doubt over migrant housekeeper
Nicholas Cecil, Deputy Political Editor17 Sep 2009
Attorney General Baroness Scotland's career was under threat today after an investigation was launched into claims she employed an illegal
immigrant.
Lady Scotland, the Government's chief law officer, sacked her Tongan housekeeper Loloahi Tapui yesterday after concerns were raised over her immigration status.
The Border and Immigration Agency is now investigating the case and the minister, who attends Cabinet, could be fined up to £10,000 if found to have breached employment rules.
Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said: “There is a big question mark over her position now. But we should wait for the outcome of the investigation before reaching any judgment.”
Lady Scotland insisted that she took on Ms Tapui, 27, in “good faith” after seeing documents to ensure she could work legally in the UK.
But even unknowingly employing an illegal immigrant can be an offence, if documents were not checked properly.
A Border Agency spokesman said: “The Agency will conduct this investigation as they would any other investigation into allegations of illegal working.”
Lady Scotland, the first woman Attorney General, had “notified the relevant authorities about the matter,” her office said.
But she is under pressure to reveal what documents she checked before employing Ms Tapui as housekeeper at her £2 million home in west London.
The Border Agency specifies certain documents, including passports, which must be scrutinised.
Keith Best, chief executive of the Immigration
Advisory Service, said that Ms Tapui's passport should have revealed to Baroness Scotland whether she was allowed to work or remain in the UK.
He said: “It seems to me inevitable that if these documents are not the documents that are specified in guidance then she (the minister) will face a penalty from the Border Agency.”
Downing Street said Gordon Brown had “full confidence” in the Attorney General. The revelations, though, are deeply embarrassing to her and the Government.
Baroness Scotland was a Home Office minister in 2006 when tough new rules to clamp down on illegal working were taken through Parliament.
The case has apparently exposed a flaw in immigration controls, as Ms Tapui had a national insurance number despite apparently living in Britain illegally for five years having overstayed a student visa.
Ms Tapui is understood to have been looking after the home, which Baroness Scotland shares with her barrister husband Richard Mawhinney and their two teenage sons, for the past six months.
Rules for domestic employers
Anyone who takes on a cleaner, nanny or other
domestic worker becomes an employer and has a legal duty to check they are not hiring an illegal immigrant.
Home Office legislation, which was tightened last year, stipulates that those employing household help must examine one of a range of documents to ensure that the person concerned is entitled to be in the country and is not barred from taking the job in question.
Documents which can be accepted as proof include
the applicant's passport, work permit or other official immigration document issued by the Home Office confirming the person's legitimate presence in the UK.
All employers — including those taking on cleaners and nannies — must also satisfy the UK Border Agency that they have properly assessed whether the photograph and date of birth of the person specified in the document is consistent with the appearance and age of their potential employee.
In the case of a person who claims, as Baroness Scotland does, to have checked the status of their employee, the legislation also requires them to demonstrate this by keeping a photocopy of the documents.
Employers must also now repeat the check every 12
months if they have taken on a person whose leave to remain was only temporary. This is to prevent a migrant arriving legally but then overstaying their visa.
Anyone who deliberately fails to carry out checks and knowingly employs an illegal immigrant faces the risk of prosecution and potentially unlimited fine, as well as a
possible jail sentence of up to two years.
Others who negligently hire an illegal worker can face civil action if they are unable to show that they sought to carry out proper checks and could be punished with a fine of up to £10,000.
Reader views (58)
"Law chief’s job in doubt over migrant housekeeper"- No it isn't. McClown and his Politburo are completely shameless and don't care what the plebs think.
After all, it was him who brought the disgraced shyster Mandlieson back into government by circumnavigating the electorate.
Scotland can't be held to account at the ballot box either, she is a champage socialist sitting in the Lords.
- Keith Lonsdale, Doncaster, 23/09/2009 00:06
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You're all being rather hard on the "Baroness". It's reported here that "Lady Scotland insisted that she took on Ms Tapui, 27, in 'good faith'”.
I mean, if I bought a computer at a car-boot sale in "good faith" which later turned out to have been nicked, the police would quite understanding, wouldn't they? (Har, har!)
- Croyboy, Croydon, 18/09/2009 08:24
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What is going to happen to this illegal immigrant? Has she claimed political asylum? Baroness Scotland mustknow that unless she resigns the law used to punish others is untenable.She should have checked.Back your bags Baroness Scotland its time to vacate your post now as its gone when the election comes anyway. You are unfit for your position so clear off. New Labour are a joke
- Patrick Mccrossan, Birmingham, 18/09/2009 01:10
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If the Attorney General and her lawyer husband could not get this right, how can ordinary folks cope? Time to re-think her own legislation.
- Ian, London Eng, 17/09/2009 22:43
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Im sure income tax and national insurance were being paid!! Otherwise Baroness Scotland would have smelt smoked Salmon!!
- Selwyn Channon, London, 17/09/2009 17:00
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Why doesn't the tax department share information with the immigration department?
- Alan In Bow, London, 17/09/2009 16:59
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"But even unknowingly employing an illegal immigrant can be an offence, if documents were not checked properly."
-unless you're a Politburo member.
Given her position, it was incumbent on this woman to check her cleaner's right to work in the UK beyond reasonable doubt, and not rely upon "good faith".
If she is not fined, then everyone who has been for employing someone in similar circumstances must be reimbursed.
- Keith Lonsdale, Doncaster, 17/09/2009 16:38
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Most of the people commenting on this page are judgmental and self righteous. We relish the opportunity to lay into a perceived authority figure, like they are the reason WE'RE SO LOVELESS AND STUPID. How does any one of us know the facts about this story? WE DON'T WANT TO AND WE DON'T CARE TO. Ironically we need the very elite we despise when so many of the population has so little respect, no humility, no imagination, no intelligence. You all just sound off and off and off, on and on and on, like Jeremy Paxman - the most loveless ever to call himself a representative of the people. The media have a lot to answer for. They've told us we have to fight for justice against our beaurocratic government and we bought into it, because we love a good fight. YOU ARE ALL LOVELESS NEUROTIC FOOLS. Who cares if a flaming baroness employed someone who is illegitimised by the very same system you bemoan.
- Adam Miller, Brockwood Park, UK, 17/09/2009 16:25
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When is the court case for the mps expenses(fraud) it seems to have gone very quiet??
- Rsaviour, lonodn england, 17/09/2009 16:03
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Sadly the minister will escape all censure or punishment.The enquiry is a farce....she made a mistake which would have led to a member of the public being prosecuted.Members of this Government are above the law as we have all seen so many times.
- P, audierne france, 17/09/2009 15:44
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Who is guarding the guards?
- G Harvey, Winchester,UK, 17/09/2009 14:38
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New Labour is a Farce.
Immigration policy and practice under New Labour has been farcical.
Baroness Scotland a contrbuting writer to a farce.
In June 2010 it will all change and Newe Labours campaign will be another farce
- Andrew, Ely UK, 17/09/2009 14:37
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In the words of the great Smokey Robinson:-
"You've got to laugh to keep from crying"
- Steve, London, UK, 17/09/2009 14:33
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As predicted "full confidence" "good faith" statements instantly appear and the tub of white wash is on its way. How much more of this corrupt rotten Government to we have to endure.
- Aan Davey, London, 17/09/2009 14:18
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Anyone remember voting for this New Labour "Baroness"?
- Ted, London, 17/09/2009 14:18
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If you don't take what people say "in good faith" would you ever employ or trust anyone? I suppose all of the commentators i have read here are squeaky clean with no skeletons, good for them. The Baroness was obviously deceived and apart from a bit of embarassment, I can't even see a story here.
- Sam, Romford, London England, 17/09/2009 13:50
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Why am I not suprised by this? Its all too easy for immigrants to enter the UK and live and work here illegally. No IN's should be given out to non UK citizens, instead temporary work visa numbers should be given out that expire within 6-12 months and this should be stamped in big red letters on the document. Foreign Students must re-apply for a number every year and prove they are still in college. Tougher penanlties for companies that hire illegal immigrants and better ways of monitoring employers records must also be enforced. ITS CALLED COMMON SENSE, something this loony left government gave up on in favor of political correctness, a bizarre form of thinking that ignores majority views and favours minority thinking! This Government MUST listen to the majority of people as that is how they were voted in, in the first place or have they forgotten that?
- Dirk Diggler, Soho, London, 17/09/2009 13:47
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Just a little more of liebour,get ready for "honest mistake" "full confidence in her" and a flunkey dispatched to B and Q with an order for yet another drum of brilliant white. Resign !!! are you completely mad ?resign while there is so much left in the trough and a lovely fat salary cheque every month, then, being the cheap skate you are you employ an illegal. Dont over fret Gordon will help you spin a story he really good at that.
- Aan Davey, London, 17/09/2009 13:33
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This woman had papers stating she was legal, she has been working "legally" prior to this with someone else, baroness scotland had been paying tax and NI as is required. She wasn't awasre of her illegality.
- Kerry, purley, 17/09/2009 13:29
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Ignorance is no excuse. She has to face the consequences otherwise the law is an ass.
- John, dundee, 17/09/2009 13:23
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Hmmm, not very good with checking legal paperwork? Makes you wonder what else she has missed in her role as chief law officer!
- Mr Opinion, london, 17/09/2009 13:16
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The Attorney General might not have known about the illegal status of her cleaner, but she clearly did not do the necessary checks. Given her position it shows a lack of judgement.
- Andrew, London, 17/09/2009 13:08
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Cheap labour - anyone else see the irony?
- David, soton, 17/09/2009 12:58
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I wonder if she was paying her the minimum wage or whether she was after a bit of cheap labour?
- Margy, London, 17/09/2009 12:47
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Why not drop the pretence of ''Legal and Illegal" immigration and just have an open house.It has happened in effect,anyway.
All the Champagne socialists at nuLabour care about is cheap labour to keep them in the style to which they are accustomed.
- Jimfred, London Uk, 17/09/2009 12:44
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How many other illegals are working indirectly for the government?
Have all been carefully vetted?
Highly unlikely.
This makes a laughing stock of all the honest, hard-working individuals who, through no fault of their own, may have had to stump up a fine, so why should see get away with it?
- Steve, Bexhill, 17/09/2009 12:35
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Wonderful Schadenfreude from this bunch of Muppets!
It's her responsibility to check her documents, just like everyone else has to. She is not above the law, for which she was responsible; fine her and then lets get this lot voted out.
- Mark Myword, London, 17/09/2009 12:16
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Don't worry she will claim the fine on expenses anyway
- Nick, LONDON, 17/09/2009 12:11
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This is our senior Law Officer, surely anybody who has open access to her home is security vetted.
This Government want to create an ID Database that has already cost us millions, and if it goes ahead it will cost us zillions, and yet it does not have the power of thought to get the Immigration authorities to shut down a National Insurance number once leave to stay has been cancelled.
Or would this not be allowed under the Data Protection Act, or possibly because of the Human Rights of the now illegal immigrant.
I honestly think the lunatics are now running the asylum.
- Steve M, London, 17/09/2009 12:01
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Will she be able to claim the fine as expenses?
- Mick, London, England, 17/09/2009 11:47
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The senior Government legal officer appears to be incapable of conducting checks required under legislation that she helped to steer through Parliament.
Further words to describe this government are hardly necessary.
- John C, Leatherhead, UK, 17/09/2009 11:35
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Fine her and boot her out
- P Staker, Socialist Republic of Londonistan., 17/09/2009 11:35
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'Caribbean-born Lady Scotland'
How is 'caribbean-born' in any way relevant to the allegations against her?
Would the author have written 'Shropshire-born' if that had been the case?
- Alan, Islington, Europe, 17/09/2009 11:35
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when the overseas students entitlement stopped surely it is not too difficult to cancel the NI number when the person is due to leave the UK , and if NI contributions continue to be made a query would be flagged up .
wonder if the young lady is now going to be deported ?
- Alan Baker, essex .uk, 17/09/2009 11:35
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When will the cleaner be deported? She´s illegal we know who she is so what´s the problem?
- Peter Glazier, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 17/09/2009 11:35
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This only goes to show that we have no control over any illegal person entering the country and how hard it is for employers to spot them.The law should be changed so that its not up to employers.There needs to be stricter controls at the boarders This woman had a visa that ran out five years ago she used a national insurance number that was given to her so she could work while being a student.If she had no means of support she should never have been allowed to come here.And why did the NI nuber not expire after the three years.
- David Smith, Croydon, 17/09/2009 11:35
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sheer arrogance.
enough said.
- Josh, london, 17/09/2009 11:35
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"I actually think its time to go on the streets and let these idiots know what a pain they are being".
Dene Wood, Grays, Essex.
Fully agree,about time they realised just how angry we are with their lies and incompetence not to mention their stupid PC rules and laws.
- Stephen, London, 17/09/2009 11:35
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Cheap labour.This is why the goverment has an open door policy,to keep wages low and protect the class race.The lie that only highly qualified people will be let into the UK is another goverment lie,forcing slave wages on the workforce.Even MP realise the pound in London is worthless,claiming 64 000 pa is below a liveable wage. Pensioners and minimum wage workers our well below the poverty line,and the fat cats keep getting richer and the gap between rich and poor wider.
- Dave, london, 17/09/2009 11:35
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Has anyone checked if the "baroness" (don't make me laugh) has a work permit ?
- John Smith, London , England, 17/09/2009 11:35
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Will she be forced to repay all expenses charged to the taxpayer and used to pay for the cleaner? How can the UK taxpayer be charged for payign illegal workers?
- Dannyp, Egham, 17/09/2009 11:35
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An overseas student is allowed to work for 20 hours per week. When Miss Tonga stopped being a student that entitlement stopped too. Whilst working as a student she would be able to get an NI number and pay tax in the normal way. She stopped being a student years ago and a simple look at her passport would have shown no current entitlement to be in this country. Baroness Scotland (can you think of a more barmy name) has shown herself to be a lousy Att. Gen and this is another example of her legal incompetance.
- Jack Spratt, Richmond, Surrey, 17/09/2009 11:35
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Both Baroness Scotland and her cleaner should be expelled from this country to their countries of origin. The cleaner because she is here illegally and the baroness because Brown pledged that those who broke the law would be so.
- John, Dartford, 17/09/2009 11:35
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Will she be prosecuted under Sections 15 to 26 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality 2006 that came into force on 29 February 2008 and which places responsibility directly onto employers to check the legal status of foreign nationals BEFORE they engage them in employment?. No doubt we will be hearing the same old excuses that '..I acted within the rules, made a genuine mistake, I apologise etc, etc..'. Would any other employer be allowed to use such a lame excuse, highly unlikely. Another case of '.. do as I say, not what I do..' from a Liebour Minister.
- Paddy, Croydon Uk, 17/09/2009 11:35
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"could lead to calls for her to resign."
She should be booted out onto her backside.
- Ken, Bexleyheath, 17/09/2009 11:35
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And had poor, little, insignificant "me" used the "But I thought..." defence, my feet wouldn’t have touched until I fell into Belmarsh on a forty-day, no charge, no trial bang up as a “Thought Criminal”, “Recidivist” and “Enemy of the Dear Leader”...
On a serious note: This is not the first time this thing has happened with "illegals" being employed - I'm off to see up a cleaning personnel agency where I can supply fully vetted staff to those who need them with no fear of embarrassments like this.
Oh yeah, but that would make them a bit pricy, wouldn’t it...
- Call Me Cynical, Aldershot, Hampshire, 17/09/2009 11:35
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Sweet poetic justice? I doubt it.
- Loki, Roskilde, DK, 17/09/2009 11:35
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My ex-employer had to pay fines in the thousands because illegals had slit the sides of his truck and slipped in the load at calais, forcing him to close down the operation, but a "Minister" looks as though she is going to get away with actually interveiwing and employing, including paying tax and national insurance on an overstayer!
I know who I am not voteing for!
I actually think its time to go on the streets and let these idiots know what a pain they are being.
- Dene Wood, Grays, Essex, That little country by the sea that used to have, 17/09/2009 11:35
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I should like to hear that the Baroness is fined the going rate that any employer who is found to be employing an illegal worker is fined. When do you think we will hear that the fine has been issued and paid?
- Pam, London, 17/09/2009 11:35
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Looks like Baroness Scotland is going to be paying a £10,000 fine!
- Peter, Harrow, UK, 17/09/2009 11:35
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Yes, an utter disgrace, but yet it is a cabinet minister, so that'll be business as usual for this government and really not all that surprising. They've made so many contradictory laws that from an employers point of view the system is quite barmy. Example: if someone comes to me and asks for a job, I am not allowed to ask "Do you have the right, under immigration rules, to live and work in the UK without restriction?" (Osborne Clarke Services v Purohit EAT Feb 2009), I could go on, but it's easier to say the government is a bunch of loons who'd fail at being shelf stackers in Tescos.
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark, 17/09/2009 11:35
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NuLabour = new filth.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 17/09/2009 11:35
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Prosecute her to the full extent of the law. Small business like ours tried to tell her that her regulations were impossible to police as we didn't have the resources to implement them. Now she is making the excuse that she said we couldn't, that she 'insisted that she had believed the woman was entitled to work in Britain and said she had never knowingly employed an illegal immigrant'. She wouldn't listen to our objections, she knew best, so haul her before the courts and prosecute her with the same vigour that has been used against all the other small businesses caught employing illegal workers, and who have also said they believed the workers were entitled to work in Britain. I believe the expression is 'Ignorance is no excuse'. Talk about being hoisted by your own petard
- Alan, carlisle uk, 17/09/2009 11:35
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"still an offence to unknowingly employ an illegal immigrant... under legislation the Baroness helped steer through Parliament"
Oh you couldn't make material like this up, how funny.
- Bob, Cheam, 17/09/2009 11:35
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Why didn't you ask Ms Cabinet Minister and then check? Was it because she was black that by asking you would infringe her yuman rights? Are you going to pay the £5,000 fine that the loony-party imposes on other ordinary business people! Or is this just part of the perks like immunity from capital gains tax?
- Mike, London, 17/09/2009 11:35
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What really worries me is that there appears to be no security vetting proceedure here, Baroness Scotland is the Attorney General and must have access to sensitive information.
- H, London, UK, 17/09/2009 11:35
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Disgraceful ! I work in a small employment agency and we have to check all applicants applying for work under the employment agency regulations. We are given a list of identification that we must see and the lone provision of a N.I. number alone is not sufficient. As with all the NuLabor ruling elite there is one rule for them and another for the rest of us. Will she be prosecuted?resign? or be fined ? I will bet anything that she won't. Roll on the next election.
- Keith Priceless, Luton, 17/09/2009 11:35
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Amusingly case law suggests the cleaner can now sue the Attorney General for unfair dismissal as it is not allowed to sack someone just for being an illegal immigrant.
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark, 17/09/2009 11:35
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