Overview
- Immigration Enforcement made more than 8,000 arrests during around 11,000 visits from October 2024 to September 2025, with arrests up 63% and visits up 51% year on year.
- Over 1,050 people encountered during the operations have been removed from the UK, a roughly one-in-eight outcome that has drawn scrutiny.
- The government’s proposals would apply right-to-work verification to gig, casual and subcontracted arrangements, with potential penalties of up to five years’ imprisonment and fines of £60,000 per illegal worker.
- Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats are cooperating through stronger ID checks and a Home Office data-sharing deal that includes locations of asylum accommodation to curb unauthorised delivery work.
- Raids focused on takeaways, delivery riders, beauty salons and car washes, with sharp local surges such as 214 arrests in Northern Ireland, up 168% on the previous year.