Right to Work
The surprisingly simple guide to Right to Work checks
What you need to check, when you need to check it — and how not to turn it into an HR obstacle course.
Updated September 2026
Not exciting. Quite important. Thankfully, not that complicated.
Before someone starts working for your business, you need to be satisfied that they have the legal right to do that work in the UK.
It’s one of those bits of People admin that can feel more complicated than it actually is.
The basic principle is pretty straightforward:
Check the right person, using the right method, at the right time — and keep evidence that you did it.
Do that properly and you'll normally establish what the Home Office calls a statutory excuse. In simple terms, that can protect your business from a civil penalty if it later turns out that somebody didn't actually have permission to work. This guide explains how.
No immigration-law degree required.
First things first: who needs a check?
Right to Work checks aren't something you only do when somebody “looks like they might need a visa”.
Apart from being a terrible recruitment strategy, treating people differently because of their nationality, ethnicity or perceived immigration status can create discrimination risks.
Build the check into your normal recruitment process and apply it consistently.
For employees, the check needs to be completed before employment begins. The current Home Office guidance sets out the prescribed checks employers can use to establish a statutory excuse.
And there's an important change coming.
From 1 October 2026, the Right to Work regime expands to cover certain working arrangements beyond traditional employees.
That means businesses using workers, individual subcontractors and some other arrangements will need to pay much closer attention to who is actually carrying out work for them — not simply who appears on payroll.
Digital People tip
If your business uses freelancers, contractors, casual workers or agency arrangements, now is a very good time to map them.
“Not an employee” will no longer necessarily mean “not our Right to Work problem”.
Why does it matter?
Because employing someone who doesn't have permission to do the work can have serious consequences.
The maximum civil penalty is currently £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach and £60,000 per illegal worker for repeat breaches.
There can also be other consequences, including criminal sanctions in the most serious circumstances and publication of details of businesses receiving penalties.
But this isn't about creating a culture of suspicion. It's about having a decent process.
Carry out the prescribed check correctly, keep the evidence and repeat the check where somebody has time-limited permission to work.
That's considerably easier than trying to reconstruct what happened two years later.
So, how do I check someone's Right to Work?
There isn't one check that works for everyone.
Broadly, there are three routes:
1. A Home Office online check
Usually used where someone has digital immigration status/eVisa and provides you with a Right to Work share code.
2. A digital identity check
A Digital Verification Service can be used for eligible British and Irish passport/passport-card holders.
3. A manual document check
Used where the person has acceptable original documents prescribed by the Home Office.
Which route you use depends on the person's circumstances and the evidence they have.
And here's the important bit:
Don't improvise a fourth option.
A screenshot, photocopy or somebody showing you something on their phone isn't automatically a compliant Right to Work check just because it looks convincing.
British and Irish citizens
British and Irish citizens have an unrestricted Right to Work in the UK, but you still need to carry out the appropriate check.
There are generally two practical routes.
Eligible British and Irish passport holders can use a Digital Verification Service to verify their identity.
The process will typically look something like this:
Step 1 — Identity document
The individual provides the required passport/passport-card information.
Step 2 — Digital verification
The individual completes the provider's identity verification process.
Step 3 — Identity matching
The service checks that the identity belongs to the person completing the check.
Step 4 — You receive the result
Your business receives the verification output.
Step 5 — You still check the human
You must satisfy yourself that the person starting work is the same person whose identity was verified.
Technology helps. It doesn't entirely remove the employer from the process.
Digital checks through a verification service are currently available for eligible British and Irish passport/passport-card holders.
A September 2026 update
The digital identity framework is changing.
A new version of the supplementary Right to Work code was published on 1 September 2026, ahead of forthcoming regulatory changes. Among other things, the new framework enables expired passports to be used in certain digital Right to Work checks once the relevant provisions are in force.
So don't build an internal policy that simply says:
“Expired passport = no Right to Work.” The actual answer is more nuanced.
Non-British and non-Irish citizens
For many people with UK immigration status, Right to Work is now demonstrated digitally through an eVisa.
The individual normally generates a Right to Work share code.
You then:
1. Get their share code and date of birth.
2. Use the Home Office employer checking service on GOV.UK.
3. Check the Right to Work information returned.
Don't just look for a big metaphorical green tick.
Check whether there are any restrictions on:
the type of work they can do;
the hours they can work; or
how long their permission lasts.
4. Check the photograph.
Make sure the person you're recruiting is actually the person shown on the Home Office record.
5. Keep evidence of the check.
The Home Office online service tells employers both whether the individual has a Right to Work and any relevant restrictions or time limits.
eVisas have changed things
The UK's immigration system has moved increasingly towards digital status.
An eVisa is the digital record of somebody's immigration status and the conditions attached to it.
For employers, that means the Home Office online service is increasingly important.
And the transition has continued during 2026: UKVI stopped issuing visa vignette stickers to successful new applicants from 1 July 2026.
So if your onboarding checklist still says:
“Take a photocopy of their visa”
…it probably deserves an update.
The bit people sometimes forget
Check the person, not just the paperwork.
This deserves its own section because it's surprisingly easy to miss.
A perfectly genuine passport or share code doesn't necessarily mean the person presenting it is the person it belongs to.
The original guide makes this point particularly well: an employer still needs to make sure the person who turns up for work matches the identity that has been verified.
So when completing your check, compare the individual with the photograph returned through the relevant process.
It sounds obvious.
But “we checked the passport” isn't terribly helpful if nobody checked the person holding it.
What about manual document checks?
They haven't disappeared.
Where a manual check is appropriate, you need to see the original acceptable documents and follow the Home Office process.
The documents are divided into List A and List B.
List A
Generally provides evidence of a continuous Right to Work.
If you correctly complete a List A check, you normally establish a continuous statutory excuse and don't need to repeat the check simply because time has passed.
List B
Used where somebody has a time-limited Right to Work.
That means follow-up action may be needed.
The Home Office publishes the acceptable-document lists and an employer checklist rather than leaving employers to decide what “looks official enough”.
What if someone's Right to Work is time-limited?
Put the relevant date somewhere useful.
Not:
Carina's immigration stuff — somewhere in HR folder.
Actually record the date and create a reminder sufficiently in advance. Where somebody has time-limited permission, you may need to conduct a follow-up check to maintain your statutory excuse.
This doesn't mean assuming their employment automatically ends when the date approaches. It means checking their current status and following the correct process.
The Home Office guidance specifically covers initial and follow-up checks.
What if they can't prove their status?
Don't immediately assume they can't work.
There are circumstances where somebody has a Right to Work but can't demonstrate it through the usual documents or online service — for example, because an application, appeal or administrative review is outstanding.
In certain circumstances employers can ask the Home Office Employer Checking Service (ECS) to verify the person's status.
That distinction matters.
Can't immediately demonstrate Right to Work and doesn't have Right to Work are not necessarily the same thing.
What evidence should we keep?
Whatever route you use, the audit trail matters.
You should retain the evidence required by the relevant Home Office process and record the date on which the check was completed.
For online checks, retain the Home Office profile page/output required by the guidance.
For manual checks, retain clear copies of the relevant documents in the prescribed format.
For digital identity checks, retain the appropriate evidence from the provider together with your employer-side check.
A beautifully completed check that nobody can find later isn't a particularly useful check.
Five things that commonly trip employers up
1. Doing the check after somebody starts
Build it into onboarding before the relevant work begins.
2. Assuming a driving licence proves Right to Work
It doesn't.
3. Accepting whatever the candidate sends
A screenshot or photograph isn't automatically an acceptable check.
4. Checking the document but not the person
Identity matters as much as the document.
5. Forgetting about follow-up checks
If permission is time-limited, your process needs to remember that even when you don't.
And please don't discriminate while doing any of this
Right to Work checks are designed to prevent illegal working.
They aren't permission to make assumptions about someone's nationality or immigration status. Apply your process consistently to candidates rather than selectively asking people who “seem foreign” for additional evidence.
The Home Office has separate guidance on avoiding unlawful discrimination when conducting Right to Work checks, and updated draft guidance was published in 2026 alongside the expansion of the regime.
A consistent process isn't just fairer....It's much easier to manage.
The October 2026 change you really need to know about
Your employment contract isn't necessarily the boundary anymore.
Historically, the statutory Right to Work scheme primarily focused on direct employment.
From 1 October 2026, its scope expands.
The new regime brings certain people working under other arrangements within the Right to Work framework, including individuals engaged under worker contracts and individual subcontractors. It also introduces provisions relating to online matching services.
For SMEs, the practical question is therefore changing from:
“Who do we employ?”
to:
“Who actually carries out work for our business, and under what arrangement?”
Before October, we'd suggest reviewing your:
employee population;
casual and worker arrangements;
individual contractors and subcontractors;
agency/labour supply arrangements; and
processes for engaging people outside payroll.
Not because every supplier suddenly needs a passport check.
Because you need to understand which relationships fall within the new regime rather than relying on the label written at the top of the contract.
A sensible Right to Work process
You really don't need a 29-stage workflow. For most businesses, something like this works:
Offer accepted
↓
Identify the appropriate Right to Work route
↓
Complete the check before the relevant work starts
↓
Check that the identity belongs to the person
↓
Check any restrictions
↓
Save the evidence
↓
Record any expiry/follow-up date
↓
Get on with employing them.
HR processes should make businesses safer.
They don't have to make them slower.
Quick questions
Do British employees need a Right to Work check?
Yes.
Don't selectively check people based on nationality or appearance.
Can we just ask everyone for a passport?
Not everyone has one.
There are different permitted routes and documents, so your process needs to accommodate them.
Can British and Irish citizens use a share code?
Generally, British and Irish citizens prove their Right to Work through the appropriate documentary or digital identity route rather than the immigration-status share-code process.
Can we do the whole thing remotely?
Often, yes.
Depending on the person's circumstances, digital identity verification or the Home Office online service can make remote onboarding considerably easier.
You still need to satisfy the relevant employer requirements, including making sure you're dealing with the person whose identity/status has been checked.
Does a digital identity provider make the employer's responsibility disappear?
No.
They can make the process much easier and carry out important parts of the identity verification, but the employer still has responsibilities under the Right to Work process.
What happens if their visa expires?
Don't wait until the expiry date and panic.
Where someone's Right to Work is time-limited, diarise the appropriate follow-up and check their current status in accordance with the Home Office process.
What if the online check isn't working?
Depending on the circumstances, the Employer Checking Service may be appropriate.
Digital People HR says…
Right to Work is a good example of something HR sometimes manages to make sound considerably scarier than it needs to be.
The legal consequences of getting it wrong are severe.
The process doesn't need to be.
Have one consistent onboarding process. Know which check applies. Complete it at the right time. Keep decent records. Set reminders where someone's permission is time-limited.
And when something unusual turns up, don't guess.
That's usually the point to ask somebody who knows.
Need a human?
Google is brilliant. Until you've opened seventeen tabs, found guidance from three different years and somehow ended up less certain than when you started.
Digital People HR helps growing businesses deal with the people stuff without building unnecessary bureaucracy around it.
Whether it's Right to Work, contracts, policies, employee relations or building the People foundations you need as you grow, we'll help you work out what you actually need to do.
No HR theatre.
No 68-page policy unless you genuinely need one.
Just practical People advice that works in the real world.
Digital People HR People advice for businesses that have better things to do than become HR experts.
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This guide provides general information for employers and isn't legal advice. Right to Work and immigration requirements can change, so employers should always check the latest Home Office guidance when completing a check.
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