UK right to work checks: a guide for recruitment agencies

What changed on 1 October 2026

The Home Office republished its employer’s guide to right to work checks and its code of practice on 1 October 2026, when the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 extended the scheme. The main changes:

• Wider scope. "Employer" now covers anyone who engages an individual under a contract of employment, a worker’s contract, as an individual sub-contractor, or through an online matching service. Penalties for the newly covered arrangements apply to engagements that began on or after 1 October 2026.
• Extended liability. A business contracted to provide services that it then sub-contracts, an online matching service, or a contract that allows substitution can be liable for illegal working further down the chain unless it puts prescribed contract terms and controls in place before the work starts.
• New name for digital checks. Identity service providers are now called Right to Work Digital Verification Service Providers (RtW DVSPs), and an employer checking digitally must use one that is registered and certified.
• Digital National Insurance evidence is now accepted where a check needs official proof of a National Insurance number.

The changes are not retrospective: what matters is the date the arrangement was entered into. There is no general grace period.

Who is responsible when an agency supplies a worker

An employment business that engages temporary workers is their employer for right to work purposes. It does the check and it is liable for the penalty if the check is missing or wrong. In a standard agency supply, the hirer is not expected to repeat the check.

You cannot get a statutory excuse by relying on a check someone outside your control carried out independently, such as another agency or an adviser. The exception is a registered RtW DVSP. You can delegate checks to people under your own control and direction.

For a worker who takes repeated assignments with you, a new check is not needed for each assignment as long as any follow-up checks are done on time.

Agencies in managed-service or contract-chain structures should read the extended liability section of the employer’s guide: the rules began on 1 October 2026 and depend on how the contracts are set up.

The three ways to check

To get a statutory excuse, you must do one of these before the worker starts. You cannot dictate which one a worker uses, and you must give them a reasonable opportunity to prove their right to work.

Whichever route, you are responsible for checking that the photo matches the person, and for respecting any restriction on the work they can do.

Share codes and the online check

1. The candidate gets a share code from Prove your right to work to an employer. A right to work share code is 9 characters and starts with W. Codes starting R or S are for other services and cannot be used.
2. You enter the share code and the candidate’s date of birth at View a job applicant’s right to work details, recording your business name in full.
3. You check the photo against the person, in person or on a live video call, and note any work restrictions.
4. You save a PDF or HTML copy of the profile page securely. Repeat this for every follow-up check.

• A share code is valid for 90 days from when it was issued, and can be reused within that time for the same purpose.
• The candidate showing you their own view of their status, or a printout of it, is not a valid check.
• Biometric residence permits stopped being issued on 31 October 2024 and have been replaced by eVisas. A manual check of an expired BRP is not acceptable: for those workers only the online check gives a statutory excuse.

Manual checks: obtain, check, copy, record

• Obtain original documents from List A or List B. The check must be in the holder’s presence, in person or by live video, and you must physically hold the originals (they can be posted to you). Scans and screenshots are not acceptable.
• Check that photos and dates of birth are consistent, that documents are in date where they need to be, that there are no work restrictions you would breach, and that any difference in names is explained.
• Copy each document. For a passport, copy the pages with the expiry date, nationality, date of birth, signature, permission, photo and biometric details, and any visa or entry stamp.
• Record the date of the check, either on the copy with the words "The date on which this right to work check was made: [date]" or in a separate record made at the time. Writing a date on the copy without that wording is not enough.

List A: no follow-up check needed

Includes a British passport (current or expired), an Irish passport or passport card (current or expired), a passport endorsed with indefinite leave or the right of abode, and a UK birth or adoption certificate or a certificate of registration or naturalisation as a British citizen, each with official proof of a National Insurance number.

List B: time-limited permission

Group 1 documents, such as a current passport endorsed with permission to stay and do the work, give an excuse until the permission expires. Group 2 documents, such as an Application Registration Card, need a Positive Verification Notice from the Home Office Employer Checking Service and give an excuse for 6 months.

The full lists are in Annex A of the employer’s guide. Biometric residence permits and cards are no longer on either list.

Follow-up checks

• If permission is time-limited, check again on or before the date it expires. The follow-up can use a different method from the first check.
• No follow-up is needed when the first check showed settled status. The 1 October 2026 guide also says EU Settlement Scheme status holders need a check only before employment, with no repeat checks. This is a change from earlier guidance on pre-settled status.
• If the worker has an in-time application, appeal or administrative review pending, the excuse continues for up to 28 days from the expiry while you get a Positive Verification Notice from the Employer Checking Service, which then gives 6 months. The service aims to respond within 5 working days.

Records and penalties

Keep copies of every check for the length of the employment plus 2 years, then destroy them securely. You must be able to produce them quickly if asked.

Penalties can be reduced for reporting the worker and for active co-operation, and a first breach with effective checking practices can lead to a warning notice instead. Knowingly employing an illegal worker is a criminal offence carrying up to 5 years in prison and an unlimited fine, and further sanctions include closure notices, director disqualification and loss of a sponsor licence.

Frequently asked questions

Collecting these documents without the chasing

Getting Docs asks each candidate for exactly the documents they still owe, over WhatsApp or email, checks that what comes back is the right document and can be read, and files it onto the candidate’s record in your ATS. It does not carry out the checks in this guide for you: the verification and the decision stay with your compliance team. It makes sure the documents are in front of them.

See how it works for healthcare staffing (UK), social care staffing (UK), industrial and warehouse staffing (UK), construction staffing (UK), hgv drivers staffing (UK), security staffing (UK), education staffing (UK), engineering and manufacturing staffing (UK) and aviation staffing (UK), or book a short call.

Related guides

• DBS checks for agency workers: levels, fees and the Update Service: Which DBS check level an agency worker needs, who can request it, the fees from 5 October 2026, how to use the DBS Update Service, and how often to recheck.
• NHS Employment Check Standards: a compliance checklist for healthcare agencies: The six NHS Employment Check Standards a healthcare staffing agency must meet before supplying a worker to the NHS in England, plus training and occupational health, as updated July 2026.

Official sources

This guide was checked against these sources on 2 October 2026:

• Home Office: Employer’s guide to right to work checks (1 October 2026)
• Home Office: Code of practice on preventing illegal working (1 October 2026)
• GOV.UK: Right to work checklist
• GOV.UK: View a job applicant’s right to work details
• GOV.UK: Prove your right to work to an employer

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules, fees and document lists change: check the official sources above before you rely on any detail, and take advice for your own situation.