Hiring and contracts · 5 min read

Right to work checks: the employer's guide

How to check a new starter's right to work in the UK, which route to use, what to keep, follow-up checks, and the penalties for getting it wrong.

Reviewed September 2026. Guidance, not legal advice: employment law moves, so check the current position before relying on any of it.

Every employer must check that every new starter has the right to work in the UK before they start. Done properly, the check gives you a statutory excuse against a civil penalty if it later turns out the person had no right. Done badly, late, or only for the people you thought looked foreign, it gives you a fine, a discrimination claim, or both.

This guide covers the three routes, what to record, follow-up checks for time-limited permission, what to do when an application is pending, and how to keep the process the same for everyone.

Why it matters

Employing someone who does not have the right to work is a civil offence carrying a penalty per illegal worker, and the Home Office publishes the names of employers it fines. Where the employer knew, or had reasonable cause to believe, the person had no right to work, it is a criminal offence with a prison sentence attached. A correctly conducted check before employment begins is the statutory excuse: it does not make the employment lawful, but it means no civil penalty.

The check must be applied to every candidate in the same way. Checking only people with foreign-sounding names or accents is race discrimination under the Equality Act 2010, and the Home Office's own code of practice says so.

The three routes

Which route depends on the candidate's status, not on your preference.

  • Online check with a share code: for anyone with a biometric residence permit or card, an eVisa, settled or pre-settled status, or a frontier worker permit. The candidate generates a share code at gov.uk/prove-right-to-work; you enter it with their date of birth at gov.uk/view-right-to-work, check the photograph against the person (in person or by video), and save the result page with the date.
  • Manual document check: for British and Irish citizens and a small number of other cases on the Home Office lists. You see the original document (passport, or birth certificate plus National Insurance evidence, among others), in the presence of the holder, check it is genuine and belongs to them, copy it, and date and sign the copy.
  • Identity Document Validation Technology through a certified Identity Service Provider: for British and Irish passport holders, a digital check of the passport that lets you avoid handling the original. The provider does the validation; you still confirm the person matches and keep the output.

What to keep, and for how long

For a document check: a clear copy of the relevant pages, with a record of the date you carried out the check (writing "checked on [date] by [name]" on the copy is the norm). For an online check: the profile page showing the photograph and the result, with the date. For IDVT: the provider's output.

Keep the record securely for the duration of the employment and for two years after it ends. It is personal data; restrict who can see it. Work-Lynx stores the document against the employee record with the expiry date, and reminds you when a follow-up is due.

Time-limited permission and follow-up checks

If the permission to work has an expiry date, your statutory excuse expires with it. Record the date at the first check and carry out a follow-up check before it. Write to the employee four to six weeks ahead asking for a new share code or evidence of an application to extend.

Where the employee has applied in time to extend their permission and the Home Office has not yet decided, the existing permission normally continues until the decision. You cannot see that on a share code. Use the Home Office Employer Checking Service, which gives a Positive Verification Notice and a statutory excuse for six months. Do not dismiss on the expiry date without checking; a dismissal in those circumstances can be unfair.

Some permissions restrict hours (students in term time) or the type of work (some sponsored routes). Check the conditions, not only the date, and make sure the role fits them.

If you hold a sponsor licence, the right to work check is the start, not the end, of your duties: reporting absences and changes, keeping contact details, recording working hours against the certificate. Sponsor compliance is a separate discipline and beyond this guide; if you are considering sponsoring, take specialist advice before applying.

Agency staff, subcontractors and the self-employed

The duty falls on the employer. For agency workers, the agency is the employer and does the check; ask for confirmation in writing, and consider spot checks for long placements. For genuinely self-employed subcontractors there is no duty, but if the subcontractor is really a worker (and in construction many are), the duty is yours. When in doubt, check.

The checklist

  1. One written procedure, applied to every new starter, before day one.
  2. Decide the route from the candidate's status: share code, documents, or IDVT.
  3. See the original or the online result; match the face; check the conditions as well as the date.
  4. Copy or save, date, sign, store securely.
  5. Record any expiry date and diarise the follow-up check.
  6. Pending extension at expiry: Employer Checking Service, not dismissal.
  7. Keep records for two years after the employment ends.

What the law says

  • Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 ss.15 to 25: civil penalty, statutory excuse, and the criminal offence of knowingly employing an illegal worker.
  • Immigration (Restrictions on Employment and Residence) Order 2007 and subsequent amendment orders: the prescribed documents and the online check.
  • Home Office, An employer's guide to right to work checks: the current lists, processes and retention rules. Read the current version; it changes.
  • Equality Act 2010 and the Home Office Code of practice for employers: avoiding unlawful discrimination while preventing illegal working.

Questions people ask

Can I accept a photo of a passport sent by WhatsApp?

No. For a document check you must see the original in the presence of the holder (or use an IDSP for British and Irish passports). A photo gives you no statutory excuse.

Can I do the check on the first morning?

Before employment begins. First thing on day one, before any work, is technically before; the day after is not. Build it into the pre-start process so it is never tight.

What if a candidate cannot produce documents because they are waiting for a new passport?

Delay the start date if you can. If you cannot, and they are a British citizen, other combinations on the Home Office list may work (birth certificate plus National Insurance evidence). If nothing on the list is available, they cannot start until it is.

Do I have to re-check existing staff?

Not people whose check was done properly under the rules that applied at the time and whose permission is not time-limited. Where you have no record for someone, do a check now; it will not give you a retrospective excuse, but it tells you where you stand.

The admin this guide describes, done for you

Work-Lynx holds the records, calculates the entitlements, drafts the letters and reminds you of the dates: 49 UK policies, GPS clock-in, rotas, leave, timesheets, payslips and Employ AI for the questions in between. £2.50 a month plus £1 per employee, 14 days free, no card.

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