Immigration checks on taxi and PHV licence applicants to be mandatory

It is to be a mandatory requirement for licensing authorities to conduct checks on would-be taxi and private hire drivers to ensure they are in the UK lawfully, under amendments to the Immigration Bill introduced by the Home Office this month.

The Home Office also said:

• Licensing authorities would have to ensure applicants have permission to work before being granted a licence;
• Driver and operator licences would not be issued for a period any longer than the length of a person’s permission to live and work in the UK;
• Immigration offences and penalties would be grounds for a licensing authority to revoke a licence;
• It would be an offence for someone disqualified from continuing to hold a driver or operator licence for immigration reasons not to return their licence to the licensing authority.

The Home Office said licensing authorities currently had discretion over the types of checks they made when it came to determining whether someone was ‘fit and proper’ to hold a licence. Many authorities, but not all, conduct immigration checks, it said.

Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said: “We have already made it harder for people to live and work in the UK illegally through the Immigration Act 2014 — and this Immigration Bill goes even further.

“Taxi and private hire drivers are usually self-employed and therefore not subject to existing right to work checks conducted by employers. This leaves scope for exploitation by illegal workers.

“Through the Immigration Bill we want to ensure drivers and operators are in the UK legally – and have the right to work.”

The amendments regarding taxi and private hire drivers were laid on 5 November and will now be considered during the bill’s progress through Parliament.