What is a Right to Work check?
All employers in the UK have a responsibility to prevent illegal working. A Right to Work check is a Home Office review which is undertaken before you employ someone, to make sure the individual is not disqualified from carrying out the work in question by reason of their immigration status.
Why do you need to undertake Right to Work checks?
Right to Work checks are a vital part of the pre-employment process and all businesses, recruitment and hiring managers must ensure that each employee or casual worker is legally allowed to work in the UK before employment commences.
It is an employer’s responsibility to check that a potential employee has permission to work in the UK.
The implications of not checking a potential employee’s Right to Work can not only be costly and damaging to an organisation’s professional reputation but may also disqualify the business from entering into public procurement contracts or lead to a business being closed down altogether.
Right to Work checks need to be conducted prior to employment – generally at the interview stage.
Employers can protect themselves by carrying out compliant Right to Work checks.
Right to Work checks – Key facts
- Employers can face fines of up £20,000 and in some cases up to 5 years in prison if found guilty of employing an illegal worker (someone who does not have the right to work in the UK)
- As of 6 April 2022, employers are no longer able to carry out manual Right to Work checks on candidates who hold a biometric residence permit, a biometric residence card or a frontier worker permit (collectively referred as biometric card holders). Employers must carry out online Right to Work checks on biometric card holders from this date onwards.
- A correctly conducted Right to Work check can provide an employer with a statutory excuse against a civil penalty for employing a person. This means you won’t receive a civil penalty if it’s found that you (unknowingly) employed an illegal worker.
Right to Work checks – How can we Capcon help?
The timing for a manual Right to Work check can vary from between 5 to 20 working days. At Capcon, our specialised mobile app or web based managed service enables us to verify a candidate’s Right to Work in less than 5 simple steps.
Our systems automatically update as legislation changes. This means that your right to work checks will automatically follow the rules in place at the time, ensuring you are fully compliant and protected against liability.
Adding to this, the information is easily accessible at the touch of a button for tracking, inspections and audit purposes.
Talk to us about our specialised Right to Work solution, helping you protect your business against reputational damage and significantly reduce manual admin, thus ensuring you recruit and onboard the right candidates quickly, accurately and efficiently.
Contact us for more information and assistance and make sure you maintain compliance with Home Office regulations, and avoid hefty fines of up to £20,000.00.
