Useful contacts for employers

• Agency workers’ health and safety
  Advice from Businesslink for those who supply or use agency workers.
• Border and Immigration Agency
  The Border and Immigration Agency website contains guidance on employing overseas workers and preventing illegal migrant. Helpline for more detailed queries Tel: 0845 010 6677.
• Business Link
  Provides advice on employing migrant workers, including a useful interactive guide to help employers check a person’s entitlement to work in GB.
• Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR)
  Provides guidance for employers and employees on a wide range of employment matters, including working time and annual leave entitlement (Tel: 020 7215 5000).
  
  If you have concerns about matters (other than health and safety) in connection with employment agencies or employment businesses that supply overseas workers, contact the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate helpline (Tel: 0845 9555 105).
• Employing workers from overseas [PDF 100KB]
  Information produced by HSE for employers of overseas workers in the agriculture and food processing industries.
• Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF)
  Information on funds available for employers to draw on for ESOL provision (where workers are earning less than £15K a year).
• Gangmasters Licensing Authority
  Regulates businesses that supply workers in the agriculture, horticulture, shellfish gathering and associated processing and packaging industries (Tel: 0845 602 5020).
• Directgov
  Access to and information from a wide range of government departments.
• Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (acas)
  Provides independent, up-to-date advice and guidance on employment relations (Tel: 08457 47 47 47).
• The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux
  Local branches and bureaux provide advice and guidance for initiatives to support migrant workers in rural areas.
• Construction Skills
  Supporting the effective integration of migrant workers. Provides details on how Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) cards might be useful.
• Workplace Health Connect
  A free service for managers and staff of small and medium-sizes enterprises that provide practical advice on workplace health and safety (Tel: 0845 609 6006).
• North West Food Alliance
  The existing food and drink bodies, Northwest Food Alliance and Northwest Fantastic Foods Partnership have been combined with the aim of making it easier for businesses in the sector to know who to contact for advice and business support.
• National Farmers’ Union (NFU)
  Provides professional representation and services including advice and guidance on health and safety to its farmer and grower members (Tel: 02476 858500).
• Worker Registration Scheme
  From May 1 2004, most nationals of the new member states (except Cyprus and Malta) who wish to work for more than one month for an employer in the UK need to register under the Worker Registration Scheme.
• National Centre for Languages (CiLT)
  Provides information on language services.

If you are concerned that an employer may be employing overseas workers illegally, there are a number of things you can do:

• To report suspicions of illegal employment, contact (in writing) the Border and Immigration Agency, Home Office, Lunar House, 40 Wellesley Road, Croydon CR9 2BY. This may result in action that leads to deportation, irrespective of any action that may be taken against the employer. HSE has no influence or control over this.
• If an employer is using undocumented (‘illegal’) migrant workers, there may also be tax fraud implications. You can report suspicions about tax fraud on the Tax Evasion Hotline (0800 788 887). You don't need to leave your name and address.