All UK employers must carry out right to work checks before employing someone, to ensure that the individual is legally permitted, by reason of their immigration status, to carry out the work in question. Correctly conducting a right to work check prior to employment will provide the employer with a statutory excuse against illegal working.
During the pandemic, the Home Office relaxed the requirement for employers to see physical documents as part of manual right to work checks, permitting the checks to be conducted via a video call with the document holder in possession of their original document and the employer holding a scanned copy.
Following a series of extensions
The Home Office has released updated guidance on right to work checks, to reflect changes which are due to come into effect, from 6 April 2022.
Rights to work checks
From 6 April, employers will no longer be able to carry out manual right to work checks for employees/candidates who are biometric card holders. Instead
In order to obtain a statutory defence against illegal working, employers should check the right to work of all employees’ original documents in person on or before their employment commences. In the absence of a correct check and in the event that an illegal working issue arises, this will assist the employer in avoiding civil