Right-to-work checks, made practical.

Employers of every size must check that the people they employ are allowed to do the work in question. For a prescribed check to establish a statutory excuse against a civil penalty, it must be completed before the person starts work.

From 1 October 2026, the Right to Work Scheme also expressly covers people engaged under a worker’s contract, individual sub-contractors, and businesses operating an online matching service that connects service providers with potential clients or customers. Some arrangements involving supplied workers, matching services or substitution clauses have separate extended-liability requirements. Do not assume a contractor or agency label settles who is responsible; check the full arrangement in the current employer’s guide.

Current Home Office guidance: Employer’s guide to right to work checks (1 October 2026) · Employers’ right to work checklist (accessible version)

Apply checks consistently to candidates at the same recruitment stage. Do not select people for extra or different checks because of their perceived nationality, race, accent, name or appearance. A person’s nationality or the kind of prescribed check they can use does not tell you whether they are suitable for a role. The Home Office advises checking all applicants being considered at that stage.

Official discrimination guidance: Code of practice for employers: avoiding unlawful discrimination while preventing illegal working (October 2026)

A right-to-work check must use one of the prescribed routes. Which route is available depends on the person’s status and the documents they can use. An online status account or other unofficial service is not a substitute for the Home Office service.

1. Manual document checkFor a person who can show acceptable original documents.
2. Home Office online checkUsing the Home Office service and a share code; eVisa holders must use it.
3. Digital verification serviceThrough a registered right-to-work digital verification service provider, for eligible documents and people.

Route-specific steps and eligibility: Home Office accessible employer checklist · Full employer’s guide

Work through these steps with the person and the original documents:

1. See the originals. Meet in person, or use a live video link while you physically hold the original documents.
2. Check authenticity and identity. Make sure each document is genuine, unchanged and belongs to the person presenting it. Compare photographs and details with the person.
3. Check the permission. Confirm the person may do the work offered, including any expiry date, role restriction or hours limit.
4. Make your own clear, complete record. After inspecting the originals, copy the relevant pages in a format that cannot be altered easily, and record when the check was made. Use the current checklist for the pages required for each document.

A screenshot, scan or other electronic copy sent by an applicant does not replace this prescribed manual check. The checklist has a narrow exception for digital evidence of a person’s name and National Insurance number; it does not turn emailed document images into originals.

Manual check instructions: Employers’ right to work checklist (accessible version)

1. Get a right-to-work share code. Ask the person for a code for an employer check and their date of birth. eVisa holders must use this online route.
2. Open the Home Office service. Enter the details there to view the live profile. Do not rely on a different immigration-status portal or a copy the applicant sends you.
3. Compare the photograph and permission. Satisfy yourself that the profile photograph is the person presenting for work, and check that the result permits the proposed role and notes any restrictions or time limit.
4. Keep the dated profile. Securely retain a PDF or HTML copy of the profile page, including its photograph and the date of the check.

Official online check: Check a job applicant’s right to work: use their share code · Employer checklist for the full process

If a person’s right to work has an end date, a follow-up check is required to keep the statutory excuse. The usual guidance is to do it shortly before permission is due to end. Different routes and cases have their own steps and timing, so use the current Home Office checklist and full guide rather than applying a made-up interval to everyone.

Keep check records securely for the whole time the person works for you and for 2 years after they stop. Then securely destroy them. This includes the relevant document copies or online profile result and the date the check was made.

A properly completed prescribed check before work starts, with required follow-ups and records, can establish a statutory excuse against a civil penalty if illegal working is later found. The excuse is subject to the scheme’s conditions; it is not a blanket guarantee or a replacement for checking the actual work permission.

Follow-up and retention requirements: Current accessible employer checklist · Current employer’s guide

An employer who employs someone disqualified from the work by their immigration status, without the required statutory excuse, may face a civil penalty. The current GOV.UK maximum is £60,000 per illegal worker; the amount in a case depends on the current code and its calculation rules.

Separately, it is a criminal offence to employ an illegal worker when the employer knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the person is disqualified from working. This is a distinct, more serious threshold; it is not the same as an inadvertent error in a check.

Penalties and the statutory excuse: Home Office: Code of practice on preventing illegal working (1 October 2026) · Employer’s guide, including civil and criminal consequences