Following a consultation period, the government has made the decision to:

• Increase maximum penalty levels for the existing offence of carrying clandestine entrants – The maximum penalty for an individual responsible person for a first incident of carrying a clandestine entrant will be £6, 000 per clandestine entrant. This will rise to a maximum of £10, 000 for a second and any subsequent incidents in the past five years. The maximum penalties in aggregate will be £12, 000 and £20, 000. A responsible person being fined for carrying a clandestine entrant could be eligible for a reduction in their level of penalty of 50% if they have complied with the security regulations. A further reduction of 50% could be applied if they are a member of the Civil Penalty Accreditation Scheme.
• Set meaningful levels of penalty for the new offence of failing to adequately secure a goods vehicle –  The maximum penalty for an individual responsible person for a first incident of failing to adequately secure a goods vehicle will be £1, 500. This will rise to a maximum of £3, 000 for a second incident in the past five years, and to a maximum of £6, 000 for a third and any subsequent incidents in the past five years. The maximum penalties in aggregate will be £3, 000, £6, 000 and £12, 000. A responsible person who is not the driver, and who was not present during the vehicle or detached trailer’s journey to the UK could be eligible for a 50% reduction in their level of penalty if they acted to ensure compliance with the security regulations. A driver would not be eligible for a reduction for complying with the security regulations, as if they had done this, they would have adequately secured their vehicle in the first place and would not be being penalised. A (further) reduction of 50% could be applied if the responsible person is a member of the Civil Penalty Accreditation Scheme.

Please see the Code of practice setting out the circumstances in which a penalty could be reduced  for more information.

Useful links:

• Code of practice setting out the circumstances in which a penalty could be reduced 
• Ministerial statement to Parliament
• Government’s response to the consultation held last year
• Security standards for vehicles have been set out in a new statutory instrument
• There is an explanatory memorandum, which provides a high level explanation of the statutory instrument
• An economic impact note