New requirements for immigration checks (Right To Work) for businesses. Well…this snuck in quietly while we were all focussing on the Employment Rights Act!
New immigration legislation changes how businesses manage Right To Work (RTW) checks in the UK. The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025, which became law in December 2025, significantly widens who must be subjected to RTW checks, as well as who can be held responsible if someone is found working illegally.
Until the end of December 2025, RTW duties mainly applied to employers with direct employees. The new law goes further. It can now apply to businesses that use workers who are not employees (sometimes called “casuals” or “bank workers” and officially known as limb (b) workers), engage individual subcontractors somewhere in their supply chain, or operate online platforms such as agencies / gig economy services that match people with paid work. In some cases, a business may be treated as the “employer” for immigration purposes even if there is no direct contract with the person doing the work – or even if the business does not know who that individual worker is.
Those of you who keep up to date with our blogs will already know that the financial penalties for employing illegal workers are high. Penalties to a business were increased significantly in 2024 to £45,000 per illegal worker, rising to £60,000 for repeat breaches. There are of course also risks of possible reputational damage and, for licensed sponsors, action against their sponsor licence.
Employers have only one solid defence against these risks and that is a proper right to work check, on all relevant personnel, carried out in accordance with Home Office requirements before work starts, and at other intervals if there are time limits on any visas or work permits. This includes checking RTW evidence using an approved method, recording the date of the check, and securely keeping copies for the required time limits (currently the duration of the contract and for two years after that ends). This has always been the case for checks on employees – the difference now is that the checks are required on a wider group of people you might contract to carry out work for your business.
How to carry out a right to work check
You can carry out face to face checks for British and Irish citizens. You should check for any sign of the document being tampered with, that any photos are of the individual presenting the documents to you, and where you are given multiple documents that the information is consistent across them all.
Take a copy of each document and record the date on which you made the check. Simply writing a date on the copy document does not, in itself, confirm that this is the actual date when the check was undertaken. If you write a date on the copy document, you must also record that this is the date on which you conducted the check.
To make sure you are checking the right to work documents correctly you can use the government checklist, which will tell you which documents can be used.
If you cannot carry out in-person checks you can use the new government Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT). Right to Work checks are carried out digitally by Identity Service Provider (IDSP).
To check a foreign national’s right to work in the UK, you will need their date of birth and share code before you start an online check on the online service.
If your potential employee cannot provide documents or a share code you should check their immigration status with Employer Checking Service https://www.gov.uk/employee-immigration-employment-status
You should always check someone’s right to work before their employment with you starts and it we recommend to make it part of your recruitment process.
Employing an illegal worker is, well, illegal (of course!) so if you become aware that an employee’s right to work has changed or they are unable to provide you with the information you are asking for to verify their status, you should very quickly investigate the issue, check the Employer Checking Service and if necessary start a lawful dismissal process.
Full Home Office Guidance on Right to Work Checks can be found here
The changes mean employers should look again at how they use casual workers, individual sub-contractors (it is worth noting that the genuinely self-employed or those who are an established business in their own right providing services to your business in a client/supplier relationship are still not in the scope of this new law), and digital platforms. Contracts with outsourced suppliers should confirm that they are taking responsibility for compliance with these new requirements with any of their workers. You should ensure you understand who may now fall within scope in your business and when RTW checks are required.
Further government guidance is expected (why does it feel like we are always saying that even after the law has been passed?!), but we’d suggest you don’t wait. Taking steps now to review working arrangements and tighten processes will help protect your business from costly penalties later.
As always – contact us if you want more information or help.
01252 757359
