Employers in the UK have a responsibility to establish that the people they employ have the right to undertake the work they are being hired to do. A Right to Work check is more structured than simply looking at someone’s passport or visa and deciding that they appear entitled to work.

The employer needs to establish which checking method applies, complete the appropriate check at the correct time, confirm that the individual is permitted to perform the particular work being offered, retain evidence and, where necessary, carry out a follow-up check.

Why Are Right to Work Checks Important?

A Right to Work check is not simply an administrative exercise for the HR file. Its purpose is to establish and evidence that the individual has permission to undertake the work for which they are being employed.

Being lawfully present in the UK does not necessarily mean that someone may perform every type of employment without restriction. Immigration permission can contain conditions concerning the type of work, hours or other aspects of employment.

When Should the Check Be Completed?

The appropriate Right to Work check should form part of recruitment and onboarding and should be completed before employment begins where required to establish the employer’s statutory excuse. Allowing someone to start and intending to deal with the paperwork afterwards creates avoidable risk.

Which Checking Method Applies?

There is no single method for every prospective employee. The appropriate route depends on the individual’s circumstances and evidence of status.

How Does an Online Right to Work Check Work?

For many people whose immigration status is held digitally, the prospective employee supplies a Right to Work share code and date of birth. The employer must use these through the official Home Office service and review the result.

A screenshot supplied by an applicant is not a substitute for the prescribed employer check. The employer should compare the photograph and identifying information with the person and review every condition or restriction shown.

Is a Share Code Proof of the Right to Work?

No. A share code is only the means by which the employer accesses the online record. The completed check requires the employer to examine the information returned and decide whether this specific person has permission to undertake this specific employment.

What About eVisas?

As immigration status increasingly operates digitally, employers must adapt their HR procedures. Where the online route applies, an email, screenshot or outdated physical document should not be used in place of the prescribed digital process.

When Is a Manual Check Appropriate?

Where the manual route is permitted, the employer should examine the relevant acceptable original documents, compare the photograph and personal details with the individual, check relevant dates and consider restrictions affecting employment.

Simply seeing a passport does not automatically complete the process. The documentation must be acceptable for the relevant check and demonstrate permission for the proposed work.

When Is the Employer Checking Service Used?

The Employer Checking Service may be relevant where a person’s Right to Work cannot be established through the usual online or permitted documentary routes and their circumstances fall within the service’s scope.

An employee’s inability to produce immediately accessible updated evidence does not automatically mean that they have no Right to Work. Where the service confirms continuing permission, the employer may receive a Positive Verification Notice.

How Should Identity Be Verified?

During an online check, compare the photograph and identifying information displayed through the official service with the person being employed. During a manual check, compare the original documents in the same careful way.

Obvious discrepancies in a name, date of birth, photograph or other relevant information should be investigated appropriately. The objective is verification, not accusation or assumption.

Employers Must Check Work Restrictions

Someone can have permission to remain in the UK while being subject to conditions concerning employment. The key question is not merely whether the person is “allowed to work”, but whether they may undertake that particular job on the offered terms.

What Records Should an Employer Keep?

A compliant check needs to be properly evidenced. Employers should retain the required evidence and record when the check was completed in accordance with the applicable requirements.

Records should be securely incorporated into the HR compliance system rather than scattered across managers’ emails or personal files. Saying “I remember seeing their documents” may not provide the protection the employer expects.

What Is a Statutory Excuse?

Where the appropriate check and any required follow-up have been completed correctly, an employer may establish a statutory excuse against liability for a civil penalty if a later issue arises concerning the person’s Right to Work.

Personal confidence in an employee’s immigration position is not the same as proving that the prescribed employer process was followed. Good intentions do not replace a compliant procedure.

Are Follow-Up Checks Required?

Not every employee requires repeated checking. Where the initial check establishes an ongoing Right to Work for which no follow-up is required, the employer will not ordinarily need to repeat it simply because employment continues.

Where permission is time-limited, follow-up checking may be necessary if employment will continue beyond the relevant period.

How Should Time-Limited Permission Be Managed?

Record the relevant expiry information in the HR compliance system, assign responsibility and create reliable reminders. Begin the follow-up process early so that access problems, a new share code or an outstanding application can be addressed without last-minute pressure.

Employees preparing to remain in the UK may also find our guide on how to extend a UK work visa beyond its initial period useful.

What If an Employee Has Applied to Extend Their Permission?

An existing employee may have applied to extend or vary their immigration permission before it expired, while updated status is not yet visible through the ordinary digital route. Employers should not automatically assume that the Right to Work has ended merely because the previous expiry date has passed.

In certain circumstances, an in-time application can extend existing leave while the application and any relevant subsequent process are determined. However, the employer should verify the position through the appropriate process rather than relying only on the employee’s statement.

Why HR Reminder Systems Matter

In one anonymised example, an employer correctly completed the initial check for an employee with time-limited permission but failed to enter the expiry date into its reminder system. By the time the issue was noticed, very little time remained to establish the updated position.

The matter was manageable, but much of the uncertainty could have been avoided. An initial check should not simply be filed away and forgotten where permission is time-limited.

What Happens If an Employer Gets the Check Wrong?

There is an important distinction between a procedural error involving a person who genuinely had permission to work and employing someone who did not have permission for that employment. Both require serious attention, but they are not necessarily equivalent.

Depending on the circumstances, an employer can face civil penalties, Home Office compliance consequences, management disruption and reputational harm. For a sponsor licence holder, deficiencies may also raise wider questions about its ability to fulfil sponsor duties.

How Can Employers Avoid Discrimination?

Right to Work compliance and fair recruitment should operate together. An employer should not decide that one candidate “looks British” and needs no check while scrutinising another person because of their name, appearance, accent or perceived nationality.

The safest approach is to build verification into the normal recruitment process and apply it objectively. Different immigration statuses may legitimately require different checking routes; that is not the same as selecting people for extra scrutiny based on assumptions.

What If the Employer Is Unsure?

Do not guess. Use the appropriate online service, obtain the required share code, complete a permitted manual check or use the Employer Checking Service where applicable. Complex cases may justify specialist immigration advice.

If the necessary Right to Work cannot be established before the planned start date, do not allow the person to begin merely because the business urgently needs them. Establish the correct position rather than guessing in either direction.

A Practical Right to Work Process

Make the check a standard part of recruitment. Establish the correct checking route, confirm identity, check permission for the proposed work, retain the required evidence and record the date of the check.

If permission is time-limited, record the expiry date and create reliable reminders. If something is unclear, investigate it before it becomes a compliance issue.

My Advice to UK Employers

Verify, do not assume; record, do not rely on memory; and apply the process consistently. Employers should treat Right to Work checks as a standard professional HR procedure while ensuring that immigration compliance never becomes an excuse for assumptions about someone’s background.

A consistent, properly documented process protects the business and provides applicants and employees with a fairer, more professional recruitment experience.