Employing illegal immigrants: the Baroness Scotland affair

The story of attorney general Baroness Scotland and her “illegal” housekeeper certainly enjoyed more than its fair share of headlines. What did the attorney general do wrong and, more important, what should another employer in her place have done to avoid the £5,000 fine levied against her? What went wrong? Put simply, Baroness Scotland employed a Tongan national who did not have the required immigration permission to carry out the job as her housekeeper. Under English law, this is an offence.