According to data obtained under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, the UK Border Agency has issued 6,953 Notification of Liability (NOLs) notices with a total value of £65.3 million since the new system was introduced in February 2008.
This new system gave the UK Border Agency the power to issue civil penalties of up to £10,000 to employers for every illegal worker.
The level of fine varies according to whether suitable eligibility checks - such as verifying right to work by checking passports - have been carried out.
Despite the tougher regime, not all employers and recruiters consistently carry out right to work checks during the recruitment process.
According to Giant, if recruiters and employers put in place automated systems to ensure candidates are eligible to work in the UK, they will eradicate the risk of falling foul of the UK Border Agency clampdown and the associated fines.
Matthew Brown, MD of Giant, said: "The compliance burden on employers and recruiters can be extremely high, particularly as many of them still rely on manual, paper-based identity checks, which are costly to administer and prone to error."
"With unemployment high and immigration a burning political issue, employers and recruiters need to make doubly sure that candidates are fully vetted.
"Putting in place processes and systems to streamline background checking will be prohibitively expensive for the majority of employers and recruiters. The damage - not just financial but reputational - of putting forward or employing an illegal candidate can be considerable, yet most checking is still fairly basic and haphazard despite the tougher penalties."
