A Chinese restaurant accused of using illegal workers has had its licence suspended for three months.

The owners of Jade Garden in Chatham High Street, Mr Shunxin Ke and Ms Xueyan Chen, have been told to undergo training to better understand licensing rules and employment law.

It comes after a licence review was requested by the Home Office following a visit in December last year, when five people believed to be working there illegally were arrested.

The Medway Council Licensing Hearing Panel was due to hold the review on July 23 but was delayed three times, first due to ill-health of the licence holder, then because their legal representation could not attend, and finally because of new evidence submitted by the licence holder.

It was successfully argued a decision should be delayed so councillors and the Home Office could consider the evidence which they said was significant enough to affect a decision.

The panel met on Tuesday, October 1, and heard from Harry Taylor, chief immigration officer from the Home Office’s south east immigration, compliance and enforcement team.

He said it was the Home Office’s recommendation the licence be removed because it believed Mr Ke consistently failed to abide by licensing rules at Jade Garden and other premises he owned.

In the original review request the report detailed how one worker said they also worked at Mr Ke’s Chop Chop Chinese Takeaway in Canterbury.

Mr Taylor said: “As described, five illegal workers were encountered during the enforcement visit, and there’s strong evidence of illegal working being committed.

“It’s been sufficiently serious that immigration enforcement have decided to proceed with a licence review.

“Furthermore, given the further information relating to the other premises we are of the opinion that Mr Ke has consistently failed to uphold the prevention of crime and disorder objectives.

“We have lost faith in Mr Ke in being able to uphold this objective and we can see no measures that can be imposed which would rectify the issue.”

Huw Shepheard, counsel for Jade Garden, said Mr Ke and Ms Chen now understood they could not accept offers of help as it was not compliant with licensing rules and better understood how to perform checks on who was working for them.

He said: “My clients have clearly had a shock from the intervention by the immigration enforcement authorities.

“They are determined to uphold the licensing objectives and they repeat their submission that revoking the licence would be disproportionate given it appears only one person was unlawfully employed.

“They are not prepared to accept assistance from members of their community who would be putting them in breach of the prohibition on employing people who have no right to be in the UK.

“Accordingly they invite the panel not to revoke the licence and they are prepared to undertake all the necessary checks to ensure they are working with someone properly employable in the UK.”

Speaking through an interpreter, Ms Chen asked the panel to consider leniency as she now understood employment rules better and had never intended, and would never intend, to hire illegal workers.

She said she would maintain the licensing objectives in future and hoped the council would show compassion as she was reliant upon the restaurant to support her family.

After deliberation, panel chairman Cllr Matt Fearn (Con) announced the decision which was to suspend the licence for three months and require the licence holders to undergo training.

The authority would need to be provided with evidence that the Jade Garden licence holders had completed the training by the end of the three-month suspension.

The panel also recommended they seek training on employment and immigration laws via the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS).

Cllr Fearn added if the issue was found to continue when the licence suspension was lifted, another review might result in stronger action.

He said: “If we have this particular issue back again, we may take a different view in the future.

“There are some very serious allegations. Let’s hope we can move forward and address the issue.”