Almost 40% of inspections turn up illegal workers

Social fraud inspectors caught undeclared workers in almost four out of 10 inspections carried out across Belgium, the service reports.

Last year just over 15,100 inspections were carried out at workplaces, and infringements found in 37% of cases, involving 10,568 people working undeclared. Five years earlier, according to figures obtained by De Tijd, there were 11,005 inspections, with 26% involving offences.

The service attributes the higher number of offences to more targeted inspections, helped by data-mining – the  use of various sources of information, including social media, to analyse the most likely sources of fraud. The social inspection works along with police, magistrates, tax authorities and other bodies.

By far the most illegal workers are employed by the food and drinks service industry, which accounted for 32% of the total inspections last year. The chair of industry federation Horeca Vlaanderen explained that the sector has different problems from the rest of industry.

The food and drinks business involves irregular work, where good weather can mean a sudden burst of custom and the need for more staff, and bad weather the opposite, Filip Vanheusden told VTM News. In any case, such work in restaurants is likely to become a thing of the past with the introduction next year of the new “white cash register”, which records all staff details and makes undeclared working virtually impossible.

Photo courtesy Toerisme Leuven