Attorney General Baroness Scotland is in the news again today, appearing in court as witness for the prosecution against her former housekeeper who found to be working for her illegally.

According to the Asylum and Immigration Act 2006, an act that Baroness Scotland herself was instrumental in pushing through Parliament, all UK employers are required by law to make basic document checks on each person they intend to employ to establish they are in the UK legally and have the right to work.

Although the Baroness’s former housekeeper has confessed to lying about being entitled to work in the UK, there is no denying the failure on the Baroness’s part as a responsible employer to keep copies of the relevant documents. Despite the Baroness making the necessary checks, this alone is not enough. Copies of the relevant documents must be kept safely on file to ensure she herself could provide a ‘statutory excuse’.

It can be easy for employers to fall into the trap of trusting potential employees whose connections, qualifications or accents may be or appear to be genuine – a trap the Baroness herself has fallen into by assuming her housekeeper could legitimately work in the UK because her husband was a member of the UK legal profession.

Stuart Maclean, Managing Director of Nannytax commented: ‘We cannot stress enough the importance of making sure your employee can legally work in the UK. Failing to do so can not only be very costly for the employer but is also a criminal offence which may result in prison sentence lasting up to two years. Nannytax ensures that all our clients are fully aware of their responsibility to follow the essential procedures when employing domestic staff.’