Right to Work Checks 2026: What UK Care Employers Must Know

From 1 October 2026, the rules on right to work checks in the UK are widening well beyond the direct employment relationship. Care providers that rely on subcontracted staffing agencies, bank workers, or platform-booked carers will need to confirm those individuals' immigration status too, not just employees on their own payroll. The change lands against a backdrop of intensified Home Office enforcement in social care, where illegal working penalties against providers have already run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. Here is what is changing, why care employers are a particular enforcement focus, and what registered managers and HR leads should be doing now to get ready.

What Changes on 1 October 2026

Under amendments to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025, the statutory right to work scheme is being extended from traditional employees to a much wider range of working arrangements. The underlying legislation has passed through Parliament, and the Home Office has been circulating successive drafts of the detailed guidance through the summer of 2026 (most recently in September), so care providers should treat the direction of travel as settled even while some operational detail is still being finalised ahead of the go-live date.

In practical terms, the checking obligation will extend to contractors and subcontractors working through layered supply chains, gig economy and platform-based workers, self-employed individuals and those engaged under worker contracts, and outsourced service arrangements more generally. Crucially for care, the sectors the Home Office has specifically flagged as most likely to encounter the new rules include construction, logistics, hospitality, facilities management and social care.

Why This Matters So Much for Care Providers

Residential and domiciliary care already relies heavily on staffing models that sit outside a simple employer-employee relationship: nursing and care staffing agencies, subcontracted domiciliary care rounds, bank and relief workers picked up through apps or third-party platforms, and self-employed personal assistants. Until now, the legal right to work check obligation has generally sat with whoever directly employs the worker, which has allowed a grey area around agency-supplied and subcontracted staff. From 1 October 2026, that gap narrows considerably, and providers who simply assume "the agency checked it" will need documented evidence, contractual clauses and audit rights to prove it.

This matters operationally as well as legally. Rotas built around flexible bank staff and short-notice agency cover depend on being able to bring people in quickly. Providers that have not mapped their labour supply chain, updated supplier contracts, or built verification steps into onboarding will find themselves either non-compliant or unable to staff shifts at short notice while checks catch up. Good governance around staffing compliance links directly to wider quality and safety obligations, a point covered in more depth in our piece on CQC Regulation 17 and good governance, and it sits alongside other workforce risk areas domiciliary providers already need to manage, such as those set out in our guide to lone working risk assessment in domiciliary care.

The Enforcement Backdrop: A Sector Already Under Scrutiny

The timing is not incidental. The Home Office has been running a sustained illegal working crackdown specifically targeting care providers, and the penalty data shows why care employers cannot treat this as a low-risk compliance area. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, ten care sector employers were issued civil penalties totalling almost £600,000, with fines ranging up to £210,000 for a single provider found to have breached the rules in respect of multiple workers. Care Home Professional and other sector publications have continued to report further rounds of care sector penalties through 2025, underlining that this is an ongoing enforcement priority rather than a one-off sweep.

The financial exposure for getting it wrong has also increased sharply. Since February 2024, civil penalties for illegal working have stood at up to £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach and up to £60,000 per illegal worker for a repeat breach within three years, figures the Home Office describes as "starting" penalties before any reduction for mitigating factors such as proactive reporting or cooperation with an investigation. For a care provider found to have multiple illegal workers across a home or agency, these figures escalate very quickly, on top of reputational damage, potential loss of a sponsor licence, and CQC scrutiny that can follow an enforcement visit.

Who Is Newly "In Scope" for Checks

Under the expanded regime, care employers should expect right to work verification obligations to reach:

• Care and support staff supplied through staffing and nursing agencies, including short-notice bank cover
• Subcontracted domiciliary care providers delivering care under a contract with your organisation
• Workers engaged through gig economy or app/platform-based booking models
• Self-employed personal assistants and individuals engaged under worker (rather than employee) contracts
• Outsourced service providers, such as facilities or ancillary support staff working on site

Responsibility is not automatically shared equally across every party in a supply chain; who holds the checking obligation depends on the statutory framework and the specific contractual relationship in place. That is exactly why contracts, not assumptions, need to do the work of allocating and evidencing compliance.

Practical Steps for Registered Managers and HR Leads

With the change due to take effect from 1 October 2026, care providers have a narrowing window to prepare. Useful steps include:

• Map every labour source feeding into rotas, not just direct employees — agencies, subcontracted providers, bank staff, and any platform-based booking arrangements.
• Review supplier and agency contracts to confirm, in writing, who is responsible for carrying out and evidencing right to work checks, and build in audit rights so you can verify their processes.
• Strengthen onboarding procedures so that identity and right to work verification happens before any new worker, however they are engaged, starts a shift.
• Keep clear, dated records of every check carried out, including for agency and subcontracted staff, in case of a Home Office compliance visit.
• Brief managers who book bank and agency cover so short-notice staffing decisions do not bypass verification steps under rota pressure.
• Monitor final Home Office guidance as it is confirmed ahead of 1 October 2026, since some operational detail is still being finalised.

Building this into staff induction and ongoing CPD, alongside related compliance topics, helps embed the checks as routine practice rather than a one-off scramble before the deadline. Learnsignal's healthcare CPD courses can support this by giving registered managers and HR teams a structured way to keep compliance knowledge current across the wider regulatory picture, not just right to work.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the 1 October 2026 change apply to agency care staff we already use?

Yes. Agency-supplied care and nursing staff sit squarely within the sectors the Home Office has flagged as most affected. Providers should not assume the agency alone carries the checking obligation; contracts should clearly state who is responsible and give the provider the ability to verify this.

What counts as a "gig" or "platform" worker in a care setting?

This covers individuals booked through app-based or third-party platform arrangements for shifts or care visits, along with self-employed personal assistants and workers engaged under worker (rather than employee) contracts, rather than only formally employed staff.

How much could a care provider be fined for illegal working?

Civil penalties have stood at up to £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach and up to £60,000 per illegal worker for a repeat breach since February 2024. Recent enforcement activity shows care providers being fined in the tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds, including almost £600,000 across ten providers in the first quarter of 2025 alone.

Is the guidance for the October 2026 changes finalised?

The underlying legislation has passed through Parliament, but as of late summer 2026 the Home Office was still issuing revised drafts of the detailed operational guidance. Providers should watch for the final published version and be ready to adjust processes accordingly before the change takes effect.

What should we do if we are not sure whether a worker falls within scope?

Treat any non-standard engagement — agency, subcontracted, self-employed, or platform-booked — as potentially in scope and verify right to work status as a precaution. Where genuine uncertainty remains, specialist immigration or employment law advice is worth taking given the scale of the penalties involved.

Right to work compliance is moving from a straightforward HR checkbox to a supply-chain-wide governance issue for care providers, and the enforcement figures make clear the Home Office is treating social care as a priority sector. Building the necessary contract reviews, verification steps and staff awareness into your compliance calendar now, rather than waiting for October, will put your organisation in a far stronger position. Learnsignal's healthcare CPD courses can help registered managers, HR leads and care teams keep pace with this and other regulatory changes as part of ongoing professional development.