Illegal working, civil penalties and organised immigration crime
The enforcement effort against the economy that irregular migration runs on: visits and arrests by region, penalties issued to employers, and disruptions of the organised crime behind the crossings.
3,896 disruptions of organised immigration crime were recorded across four quarters (2023 Jan - Mar to 2026 Apr - Jun).
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A visit is not a conviction and an arrest is not a removal. These are counts of enforcement activity, published by the bodies carrying it out, and they measure effort rather than outcome. The returns that do or do not follow are on the returns page.
Sanctions on the illegal economy
Work and housing are where enforcement can act without a removal flight — measured in civil penalties issued to employers and landlords.
Illegal-working civil penalties issued to employers, quarterly. Immigration Enforcement data: April to June 2026 (Home Office, Migration transparency data). Penalties issued, before any appeal or reduction (tables CP_02, CP_03).
Disruptions of organised immigration crime by public agencies, per quarter — all threat levels and the major subset. Organised immigration crime summary tables, year ending June 2026 (National Crime Agency and Home Office).
The published table splits every disruption into three threat levels, and the split matters more than the total: between 2023 Jan - Mar and 2026 Apr - Jun, disruptions recorded as minor went from 259 to 608, moderate from 45 to 116, and major from 7 to 15. Minor disruptions are 82% of the latest quarter’s total, against 83% at the start of the series — a share taken from the same row that publishes the total.
A disruption is an enforcement outcome against organised-crime activity, graded minor/moderate/major by the NCA.
The illegal economy: enforcement activity by region
Illegal working visits and arrests by English region, comparison periods as published
Enforcement ACTIVITY — visits and arrests are operational counts, not convictions. Regional split as published; comparison periods are the publisher's own.
Illegal working visitsArrests
Illegal working enforcement visits and resulting arrests, half-yearly. Illegal working and enforcement activity (Home Office transparency data).
Arrests for organised immigration crime, by agency: National Crime Agency 305(April 2025 to March 2026; 194 prior year) · Police Forces 1,173(April 2025 to March 2026; 382 prior year) · Home Office 902(April 2025 to March 2026; 817 prior year). Arrests are not convictions.
April 2024 to March 2025 vs April 2025 to March 2026 · source
Illegal working, civil penalties and organised immigration crime. Migration Watchdog, data as of 2026-09-02.
https://migrationwatchdog.com/crime/illegal-working
Underlying figures: UK official statistics, re-published under OGL v3.0 — every figure links to its source on the page.