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A search by Home Office officials found five people working illegally at Saraswathy Bhavan – a vegetarian Indian restaurant in Wembley – with one seen sleeping on the kitchen floor as he was homeless.
Anil Verma, the owner, illegally employed five back of house staff working in the kitchen, which is at basement level and non-public facing. They were paid in cash and below the April 2022 national minimum wage of £9.50 an hour.
One worker told officials that they worked ten hours a day, six days a week, for which Mr Verma would pay them £30 or £40 a day – the equivalent of £4 an hour.
A Home office document says: “[Mr Verma] knows his responsibilities as an employer and applies this to the front of house while readily flouting the same responsibilities for the kitchen staff.”
One of the workers had overstayed their visa by three years, which anyway didn’t include the right to work in the UK. Mr Verma told officials that he did know that they had overstayed their visa and were not allowed to work in the county but claimed he was trying to help because they were “suffering badly in India”.
Another admitted to working there for the past three months, for which they were paid £900 a month cash in hand, as well as being provided food from the restaurant. They told officers that their employer was aware they had no right to work in the UK and never showed any documentation prior to starting the role.
During an interview with Home Office staff, Mr Verma said that he had asked for a copy of the workers passport but neither received it nor chased it up. He added: “We get busy and it slipped my mind”.
The worker found sleeping in the kitchen claimed they had entered the UK in 2006 by hiding in a lorry. Since being in the country, they have not applied for a visa and never had the right to work.
Officers were told that they had been living in the restaurant for the past ten days, having been granted…
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