Right to Work Changes
From 1 October 2022, there will only be three main methods of checking an individual’s right to work in the UK – online, manual and using an Identity Service Provider (IDSP). The method an employer uses will depend on the immigration status of the individual and the documents they hold.
Temporary changes to right work check requirements introduced on 30 March 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic will end on 30 September 2022. The temporary changes have allowed checks to be carried out over video call and for scans or photographs of documents to be checked rather than original documents
Contact us now for detailed advice.
Getting ready
To prepare for the changes, employers should:
- Consider the percentage of employees who hold various immigration documents and the rate of staff turnover. This will help to decide whether it is worth the employer using an IDSP.
- Determine how it will conduct manual checks on relevant employees following the end of the temporary COVID-19 related concessions.
- Create step-by-step guides for those conducting right to work checks and ensure whoever is conducting the checks understands when to use each method and what that involves.
The options are:
Biometric Residence Permit (BRP), Biometric Residence Card (BRC) and Frontier Worker Permit holders can be checked online.
Employees with e-visas can also be checked online. These include for example, EU Settled Status, EU Pre-settled Status or those who applied for UK immigration permission using the UK Immigration: ID Check app.
British and Irish passport holders will be amongst those not be eligible for online checks. Right to work checks for these people can be checked manually or using an IDSP.
Employers should obtain specialist immigration advice where appropriate.
For more advice, please contact our HR Consultants today.
