Right to Work Checks: A UK Employer's Guide

Every UK employer is expected to check that a person has the right to work in the UK before they start employment — not as a courtesy, but because it's the only way to establish a statutory excuse against a civil penalty if it later turns out someone was working illegally. The rules are detailed, and the consequences of getting them wrong (or simply not doing them at all) are serious enough that this should never be treated as an afterthought bolted onto the end of onboarding.

This sits alongside a wider set of employer obligations that have been shifting recently — see our guide to what's changing for employers under the Employment Rights Act 2025 for the bigger picture. Right to work checks are narrower and more procedural, but no less important to get right, and no less easy to get wrong under time pressure.

Why the Check Matters: The Statutory Excuse

The point of carrying out a compliant right to work check isn't just good practice — it's what gives an employer a "statutory excuse" if, despite the check, it turns out the person didn't actually have the right to work. Without that excuse, an employer who has knowingly or negligently employed someone without the right to work can face a civil penalty from the Home Office, on top of the reputational damage and disruption of losing a member of staff partway through their employment. Employers should check gov.uk directly for the current civil penalty amounts and any recent changes, since Home Office penalty levels for illegal working have been revised upward in recent years and are subject to change.

The Three Ways to Check

Current Home Office guidance sets out a small number of acceptable methods, and using one of them correctly is what secures the statutory excuse:

• A manual document check — checking original, physical documents from the Home Office's lists of acceptable documents (such as a passport), in the presence of the holder, and retaining a clear copy along with the date of the check.
• The Home Office online right to work checking service — used for individuals who hold an immigration status that can be checked digitally, typically via a share code the individual provides, which returns a profile confirming their right to work and any conditions or time limits attached to it.
• An Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT) check via a certified Identity Service Provider (IDSP) — available for British and Irish citizens holding a valid passport, allowing the identity element of the check to be completed digitally through a certified provider rather than by physically examining the passport.

Employers should confirm the current detail of each route, including which document types and providers are certified, against the latest gov.uk employer's guide before relying on it — the acceptable document lists and certified provider arrangements are reviewed and updated periodically.

Timing: Before the Start Date, Every Time

The check has to be completed before employment starts — not on the first day if that can be avoided, and never retrospectively once someone is already working. It applies to every new hire, regardless of nationality, role, seniority, or how the person was recruited. It's a common misconception that only visa holders or "obviously overseas" candidates need checking; in fact the whole point of a universal, non-discriminatory process is that every new employee goes through the same check, which also helps employers avoid discrimination claims that can arise from checking selectively based on assumptions about someone's background.

Keeping the Right Evidence

A check only protects the employer if it's evidenced properly. That generally means retaining a clear copy of the documents checked (or the online/IDSP check outcome), recording the date the check was carried out, and keeping that record for the duration of employment plus a further period after it ends, in line with current Home Office guidance. Sloppy record-keeping — checks done but not filed anywhere retrievable, or copies that are illegible — can undermine the statutory excuse even where the check itself was done correctly at the time.

Follow-Up Checks for Time-Limited Permission

Where someone's right to work is time-limited — for example, a visa with an expiry date — the employer's obligations don't end after the initial check. A follow-up check needs to be carried out before the existing permission expires, to confirm continuing eligibility and to refresh the statutory excuse. Employers need a reliable system for tracking these expiry dates; relying on someone remembering is how follow-up checks get missed, often only surfacing the gap when it's already too late to fix cleanly.

Practical Tips for Getting This Right

Build the right to work check into the offer-to-start process as a hard gate, not a task that happens whenever there's time. Train whoever conducts checks on the current acceptable document lists and the mechanics of the online and IDSP routes, since these have changed over time and informal knowledge goes out of date quickly. Keep a simple tracker for anyone with time-limited permission so follow-up checks happen automatically rather than reactively. And when a check throws up something unclear — an unfamiliar document, an online check that doesn't return a clean result — escalate to someone who actually knows the current rules rather than guessing or letting the start date slip past unchecked.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to check the right to work of British citizens?

Yes. Every new employee needs a right to work check, including British and Irish citizens — for these nationalities, this can typically be done via a manual passport check or, where available, a digital check via a certified IDSP.

What happens if I discover an existing employee doesn't have the right to work?

This needs careful handling and usually specialist HR or legal advice, since continuing to employ someone once you know they don't have the right to work removes any statutory excuse and creates both immigration and employment law risk. The situation is different from a pre-employment check and should not be treated the same way.

Can I rely on a check done by a recruitment agency?

Generally no — the statutory excuse belongs to the actual employer, so if you're the one employing the individual, you typically need to carry out or directly verify the check yourself rather than simply relying on an agency's assurance that it was done.

How often do the acceptable document lists change?

More often than most employers expect — new document types are added, certified IDSP arrangements evolve, and guidance is periodically reissued. Always check the current gov.uk employer's guide rather than working from memory or an old printout.

Right to work checks are one of those compliance areas where the process matters as much as the outcome — a technically eligible new hire checked the wrong way still leaves the employer exposed. Building this into a consistent, well-documented process protects both the business and, just as importantly, treats every candidate fairly and consistently. It's also worth building into onboarding alongside the wider knowledge Learnsignal's workplace compliance CPD courses cover, so the people running checks day to day understand not just the mechanics but why each step matters.