How to: Right to Work Checks in the UK

In today’s regulatory landscape, ensuring compliance with Right to Work legislation is a critical responsibility for UK employers. Under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, employers must verify that all employees have the legal right to work in the UK. This involves conducting thorough and indiscriminate checks on ALL prospective employees, irrespective of their nationality, race, or ethnicity.

Conducting Right to Work checks properly is not just a legal requirement; it is a vital component of risk management. Properly executed checks provide employers with a statutory defence against allegations of compliance breaches. However, it is essential that these checks are consistently applied across all levels of the organisation as inconsistencies in implementation by some line managers can pose significant risks.

Failure to adhere to the Home Office guidance can lead to severe penalties, including hefty fines and damage to the organisation’s reputation. Therefore, it is imperative for employers to ensure compliance and implement rigorous Right to Work processes uniformly across their business operations.

Tamar HR is here to guide you through this, and we’ve outlined a comprehensive step by step guide in completing these checks to keep you and your organisation compliant!

Manual Checks

There are a number of ways that employers can check documents, however the most common way is the manual check. The way a worker provides their eligibility to work will often depend on their nationality and a full list (too large to share here) of acceptable documents can be found on this link, with additional guidance: Employers’ right to work checklist – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

List A contains the range of documents an employer may accept for an individual who has a continuous right to work in the UK and List B contains a range of documents an employer may accept for an individual who has a temporary right to work in the UK. A follow up check will be required in order to retain a statutory excuse.

The right to work check must be completed before, or on the first day of employment, before any work has been completed. Its therefore worth looking at your recruitment and onboarding process to ensure that the applicant is given plenty of notice to provide these documents to prevent delays in starting.

  1. Obtain a physical copy of the original accepted documentation and check in the employee’s presence. Photocopies of the original will not be acceptable.
  2. Ensure that the picture on the original resembles the candidate in front of you. Reject any document where it is reasonably apparent that the document could be fraudulent; i.e holographic marks exist, all pages of the passport are present and documents look and feel as they should.
  3. Check the applicants’ details such as nationality, date of birth, name and address are consistent with other documents.
  4. Retain a copy of the document in a form that cannot be edited and accompany this with the date it was checked. Photocopy the original document (expiry date and applicants’ details for passports) and write the following statement on that photocopy: “The time & date on which this right to work check was made is [insert time & date] and was conducted by [insert name and position]”. You should then securely hold this digitally or in hardcopy, abiding by GDPR legislation. Right to work checks must be retained for the duration of the persons employment and for a further 2 years after they have left.

Other Forms of Right to Work Checks

Digital

Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT) is a system an employer can use to check right to work through the use of IDSP. It provides a check to identify British and Irish citizens who have valid British or Irish passports, or Irish passport cards.

  1. Check the individual visually when they present themselves to work. You must be satisfied that the individual is consistent with the photograph and IDTV check results.
  2. Retain a copy of the IDVT check for the length of the employment and for an additional 2 years after the employment is terminated.

Share Codes

Employers can no longer accept Biometric Residence Card(BRC), Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) and Frontier Worker Permit (FWP) from individuals to prove their eligibility to work in the UK.

  1. The individual will need to give their permission for an employer to conduct an online check. Once completed, a unique 9-character reference share code which starts with ‘W’ will be generated (codes starting with ‘S’ or ‘R’ are not accepted). The individual should provide you with this, as well as their date of birth.
  2. Complete an online right to work check before an individual commences employment with you by entering the individuals’ details on the ‘checker’ section on the Home Office website: ‘View a job applicant’s right to work details’ section.
  3. On the first day of employment, you must visually check the employee to ensure their picture matches the online check.
  4. Retain and save the check by producing a PDF document. You should record the time and date in which you first met the employee alongside this PDF document.
  5. You should also keep a copy of the check in the form of the profile page that verifies the individual’s eligibility to work.

It’s important to remember that an online right to work check should be carried out when a sponsored worker begins a new role with you, even if you have provided sponsorship. The check should be conducted after the UKVI application has been approved.

Home Office – Employer Checking Service

This is a service for employers to use to check an employee’s or potential employee’s immigration status if they cannot show their documents or online immigration status (i.e. if they have an outstanding application with the Home Office). A Positive Verification Notice from the Employer Checking Service will last up to 6 months and provides an acceptable statutory excuse for an individual’s right to work check as detailed on List B (Group 2).

Right to work checks are an extremely hot topic and strictly enforced by the Home Office. Fines can reach up to £60,000 for employing an illegal worker.

Employers should remain diligent and should also follow up a right to work check with individuals especially if their online check advises that their permission to work is time limited. Checks should therefore be completed before the expiry of this date.

If you would like any further information or advice on this article, please do not hesitate to contact one of the team.

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