Right-to-work checks: a refresher for employers

Every employer in the UK must check that a worker has the legal right to work before they start. For British and Irish citizens this usually means checking original documents; for most other workers it means a Home Office online check using a share code.

Civil penalties for illegal working now reach £45,000 per worker for a first breach — and 'the agency handled it' is not a defence unless the agency genuinely did, and you can prove it.

We run right-to-work screening on every candidate we supply and keep the evidence on file, so our clients have a clear audit trail if the Home Office ever asks.