A right to work check is a Home Office process to establish that each employee or casual worker has the right to work in the UK before they start their employment. This prevents illegal working within the UK.
Due to COVID-19, there were temporary changes put in place regarding the way you can check right to work documents. These changes are currently in place until 30 September 2022 and allow employers to carry out right to work checks remotely, rather than having to be face-to-face.
Currently, to carry out a temporary adjusted check, you can:
- Ask the worker to submit a scanned copy or a photo of their original documents.
- Arrange a video call with the employee and ask them to hold up their original documents to the camera so you can check them against the digital copy of the documents. You will then need to record the date you made the check and mark it as “adjusted check undertaken on [insert date] due to COVID-19”.
The Home Office has communicated that from the 1 October 2022 their ‘Employer’s Guidance’ will be updated to reflect the latest changes in the UK’s right to work legislation, meaning that the above guidance will no longer be in place.
New digital right to work checks, using ‘identification document validation technology’ (IDVT), became available for employees with valid British or Irish passports from 6 April 2022. Employers can use a ‘identity service provider’ (IDSP) to carry out this check, although they remain responsible for checking the identity of the employee and retaining the record for the duration of employment plus two years.
From 1 October, employers will need to either:
- Carry out a manual check by physically meeting with the employee to check and copy their original documentation.
OR
- Appoint an ‘identification service provider’ (IDSP) to check the passport of the employee on behalf of the employer.
The government guidance has been updated and has a list of approved IDSPs that you can appoint.
The Employer Checking Service continues for right to work checks on non-UK/Irish citizens. You can use this service to ask the Home Office to check a potential employee’s immigration status if they aren’t able to show their documents or online immigration status.
You can be fined up to £20,000.00 for employing illegal workers so right to work checks must be completed before appointing all candidates.
If you would like more information about Right to Work Checks, ask our HR team or call 01924 827869.
You may also be interested to know that our HR system SAMpeople helps you to record information like vetting checks and add digital copies to the employees file. To make your life easier we also have our ATS, recruitment software FACE-Ed which helps you ensure you are following the correct process to be compliant with KCSiE and Safer Recruitment Guidelines. It records Right to Work and let’s you know what checks are required for each type of role. To find out more about FACE-Ed visit the website and for more about SAMpeople visit here.
