A guide to right to work UK checks for employers

If you’re running pre-employment checks as an HR team, you’ll need to get to grips with right to work UK checks. That’s because you’ll conduct these checks in order to make sure a new hire is eligible for work in the UK. These checks are to confirm that you aren’t employing someone who is trying to work illegally.

To get this process right, you’ll need to know what documents to check and what to check for in each document. There are several ways you can check as well, such as manually or checking online, which we’ll cover. Finally, we’ll look at some ways you can get candidates to submit their documents, as well as how to make sure you’re following the UK law.

Right to work checks help you show to the Home Office that an employee or casual worker has the right to work in the UK. These are pre-employment checks, which means you’ll have to run them before you officially hire someone. But what does it mean to have the right to work in the UK? 

Right to work check UK documents help you to confirm a person is who they say they are, as well as whether they’re legally permitted to work in the UK. These checks also look at whether someone has a criminal record or has been banned from working in certain industries.

It’s important for you to conduct these checks as it helps you to stay compliant with UK law – it protects you from hiring anyone who is trying to work illegally or in an industry they’re banned from.

No matter what type of business you are, checking an employee’s right to work is a very important step. Recruitment agencies for example also have to check a prospective employee’s right to work documents.

There are different ways you can check someone’s right to work. These are manual checks, getting confirmation from the online Home Office Employer Checking Service, or an online Home Office Right to Work check. Whichever option you choose, you’ll need to make sure that your candidate has the right documents.

You’ll need to choose one of these pathways to check an employee’s right to work documents. There are some pathways where you’ll need to choose one check over the other depending on the kind of documents someone has. They also need to be checked in the correct way before your new employee can start work. 

Let’s start by looking at how these different checks work:

To complete a manual right to work check, you’ll need to be able to meet the candidate face-to-face to verify their identity. You’ll also need a physical copy of their passport, a UK birth or adoption certificate, certificate of registration or naturalisation as a British citizen, or any of the document under either List A or List B shown on the UK government website. 

However, you don’t have to verify someone’s identity in-person. While you need a physical copy of their documents, you can verify their identity online via an online video meeting.

List A documents are those that people have if they have a permanent right to work in the UK, such as British citizens. List B documents are for people who have a time-limited right to work in the UK, such as European Union nationals.

If someone has immigration status, they’ll need to provide the right documents to physically show this.

There are some circumstances where you’ll be able to complete an online Home Office Right to Work check. If your candidate has a certain type of biometric identity card, then you’ll have to use the online check, not a manual check. Candidates with a biometric card will have to give you a share code which you’ll have to submit to the Home Office’s online Right to Work check service.

You can ask the UK’s Home Office to check whether someone has the right to work in the UK and your industry. This could be a useful option if they do not have the right documents, their online immigration status, or a share code.

If someone has an outstanding appeal with the Home Office or arrived in the UK before 1989, then they might not have the right documents to hand.

First, you’ll need to think about whether you’re checking manually, via the online Home Office Employer Checking Service, or via an online Home Office Right to Work check. Then, you’ll need to make sure you have the right documents in place. If doing a manual check, then you can collect copies of the documents in person. 

If you’re doing an online check, then you’ll likely need a ‘share code’ provided by the candidate.

Candidates with immigration status can apply for a share code online. They then have to provide it to you as their employer so you can check it with the Home Office online. 

Remember, you’ll need to keep a record of every document you’ve checked when assessing someone’s right to work. You’ll need to keep this information for the whole time they’re working for you and two years after they stop working for you. These documents can be kept in formats like a PDF or JPEG file.

Using a form that allows file upload can be a useful way of collecting this info – we’ll cover this in our next section.

Our file upload option allows survey takers to attach files to their responses. Using a survey with a file upload option can help you to collect any documentation you need, more smoothly. This is especially useful when you need to make copies of a new hire’s right to work documentation. 

You can create a file upload question with these simple steps:

As right to work checks are there to help prove someone’s legal right to work in the UK, you’ll need to verify the legitimacy of their identity documents. They might also need to provide other documents about their immigration status such as whether they have an indefinite right to remain in the UK. Below is some typical documentation that you might have to check for:

If someone doesn’t have a UK passport, then you usually ask for their NI number and name as well as their birth or adoption certificate, or evidence that they are a legitimate British citizen. 

What you’ll need to look for will depend on how you’re conducting the check. First, we will explain how to check manually. Once you have the right documents for a manual check, you’ll then have to make sure:

Finally, you’ll have to make a copy of the documents your candidate has provided, declaring that you’ve checked the documents and deemed them suitable.

You’ll have to retain copies of documents like their passport, including any page containing the expiry date, holder’s nationality, date of birth, their signature, immigration permission, biometric information and their photo. Keep these copies in a secure place.

If you’re conducting an online right to work check, these are the steps you’ll need to complete:

HR teams are usually responsible for holding onto someone’s right to work information, as well as any other personal data on a company’s employees. If you plan to store this data, it needs to be secure to remain compliant with the UK’s data protection law. 

UK data protection law says that employers can’t keep an employee’s data longer than necessary. To reiterate, this is typically the whole time they work for you plus two years following this.

You have to ask permission from an employee to store protected personal information, which includes:

This information needs to be stored more securely than other types of personal information like their name, address and date of birth. The UK government provides more information on storing right to work personal data securely

If you’re conducting a manual check, you’ll need to keep the documents stored safely and declare that the documents are genuine. You don’t have to send these to the Home Office but you can provide the information to them if requested. If you’re checking online, you’ll need to submit a candidate’s share code via the Home Office’s Right to Work service.

Once you’ve confirmed your hire has a right to work in the UK – congratulations! You can start the onboarding process. Our new hire onboarding survey helps you uncover how your new employees feel about their training and first few days at work. Our survey templates have features like:

With our feedback analysis tools, you can create an even more successful onboarding experience for next time.

Right to work checks are an essential part of the pre-employment phase. That’s because you need to make sure candidates are legally allowed to work in the UK, as well as your industry. You’ll need to check for documents consistency, that documents are still in date and more. Once you’ve confirmed someone has the right to work in the UK, you’ll need to store this information securely until it’s time to delete it. 

Once you’ve confirmed your brand-new employee’s right to work, it’s time to onboard them! Prepare to onboard your new hires with our onboarding checklist.