The UK government revealed that enforcement teams raided 828 premises during January, including nail bars, car washes, and restaurants. A subsequent 609 arrests were made, a 73% increase on the previous January.

As the crackdown is showing no signs of slowing down, ‘right to work’ checks have never been more essential. As an employer, failing to carry out these checks could result in hefty fines, or even prison.

Employers must therefore get to grips with their legal obligations to conduct right to work checks, plus how to prevent illegal recruitment within their business.

What is a right to work check?

It is an employer’s legal responsibility to ensure that their staff have the right to work in the UK. This is done by conducting a right to work check.

A right to work check is a type of background check that the Home Office requires of employers. It determines whether a potential employee has the right to work in the UK before they start their employment.

To establish this, companies must check documents to validate that all employees are legally allowed to do the work in question. These documents will depend on the nationality of the candidate, as well as the type of permission they have to work in the UK.

Businesses operating in the UK must perform a right to work check on all employees. This is regardless of factors like race, gender, age, nationality, or status of residence. Even British citizens must provide valid documents for the checks. These checks must be carried out either ahead of employment, during the job offer stage, or first thing on the first day of the applicant’s employment.

Why are right to work checks important?

First and foremost, they are designed to prevent people from working illegally in the UK. However, they also ensure that employers remain compliant with their legal obligations.

Completing a right to work check correctly gives employers a ‘statutory excuse’. This means that if an employee is found to be working illegally, but a correct check has been completed, then the employer is likely not liable. Whereas failure to perform the check could result in enforcement action being taken against the employer, such as civil penalties, business closure, or even imprisonment in extreme cases.

Employers who fail to verify right to work checks for prospective employees could end up employing them illegally. As a result, the employer may face civil penalties, such as monetary fines, business closure, or even imprisonment in extreme cases.

How do you complete a right to work check?

There are several ways you can check an employee’s right to work in the UK. The most common way is to carry out remote digital identity checks through an identity service provider. These providers check these documents via Identity Document Validation technology (IDVT). They can be used for right to work checks for British and Irish citizens holding a UK or Irish passport card.

Following a digital check, you must carry out a visual follow-up check. This can be done when the applicant first reports to work. A follow-up check is done to ensure that you are satisfied that the person’s physical appearance matches the details on the documents they have provided.

You can also use an online check to verify an employee’s right to work in the UK. This can be carried out if an employee has a working visa, pre-settled or settled status under the EU settlement scheme and a frontier worker permit. However, employers are no longer allowed to accept physical copies of certain types of eVisas as valid evidence of an individual’s right to work.

Finally, you can carry out a manual right to work check. This refers to employers meeting with prospective staff in person, to ensure they bear a physical resemblance to the ID and documents they have provided.

How can you carry out a manual right to work check?

The first step in conducting a manual right to work check is obtaining valid documents. These should be the applicant’s original documents, and be a valid form of verification from List A or List B. It is worth noting that the government has recently released updated guidance for employers on acceptable documents, so employers must ensure they’re complying

You must carefully check the documents that the applicant has presented are genuine by reviewing the photographs and date of birth to check it’s consistent with the person’s appearance, checking the insert date is valid and checking expiry dates, where appropriate, haven’t passed.

You should also check the reasons for name differences across documents can be explained by providing evidence. For example, checking the candidate’s name against a divorce decree, marriage certificate or deed poll.

Employers must make a clear copy of any documents presented. This must be within a format that cannot be manually altered and retained electronically or as a hard copy.

Ensure you also retain a secure record of the date the documents were presented. If the worker does turn out to be working illegally, by copying and retaining the documents, you have a statutory excuse that protects you from civil penalties. This is because you did everything you reasonably could to ensure they had a right to work.

If needed, employers should make further checks. This is especially the case if the person in question has limited leave to work in the UK. For example, if they have a working visa. These types of right to work documents will have expiry dates, so ensure you’re legally compliant by checking them when needed.

What is the consequence for avoiding a right to work check?

Whilst there is no fine for avoiding right to work checks, if an employer fails to perform one and hires an illegal worker, they could face fines of £20,000 per illegal worker. In other cases, they could end up facing unlimited compensation fines (depending on the severity of the case). In extreme cases, employers can face up to five years in prison for failing to conduct right to work checks.

With the government’s commitment to preventing illegal working in the UK stronger than ever, it has never been more necessary for employers to ensure they’re completing right to work checks.