Sorry, you can't come in without a tie

Security staff employed illegally

The Home Office has admitted illegal immigrants have been mistakenly cleared for jobs as security staff. Ministers have ordered new checks to be carried out on hundreds of thousands of people vetted by the Security Industry Authority over the past three years. The Home Office says the SIA did not check applicants were entitled to work in the UK before granting licences. According to the Sunday Mirror, illegal immigrants are working at airports, ports and the Metropolitan Police. The newspaper claimed 5,000 illegal immigrants were estimated to have been employed in posts such as security guards and bouncers.

This isn't just about entitlement to work. What kind of investigations can possibly be carried out on people who have entered the country illegally? How can references be checked and relied upon? How is it remotely possible to ensure they are not criminals? And yet when I was considering doing some voluntary work recently I faced extensive enquiries into my life, my entire work history, my family background and an enhanced police check going back 45 years.