For quite a while now we’ve been telling you about the ongoing extension to changes in how you carry out to right to work checks in light of covid and remote working.
Now we have new news about right to work checks and how going forward they should be carried out. As of 6 April 2022 there are a new set of rules for right to work checks, and the temporary changes in place for doing them have ended.
All employers are still obliged to check and evidence that they have done right to work in the UK for their employees. This should usually be done at the point of making a job offer if not checked at interview stage.
There are two types of checks, manual or online. Which one you need to do will depend on the status of your applicant.
The big change is that where it used to be seeing a physical Biometric Residence Card (BRC), Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) would be valid proof of RT, now the applicant will need show proof of right to work using the Home Office Online Service. This service is also used for people who only have digital proof of their immigration status in the UK.
The good news is that you don’t need to go back a retrospectively check anyone employed before 6 April 2022 as long as you have a copy of their physical document that shows an expiry date later than the date you viewed it.
To make sure you are checking the right to work correctly you can use the government checklist, which will tell you which documents can be used or the online service to check a foreign nationals right to work in the UK, you will need their date of birth and share code before you start an online check.
Failing to carry out and evidence right to work checks for your employees can land you a heavy fine. We would suggest that you include it in your recruitment process if it doesn’t form part of it already.