Right to work checks, in plain English.

Check everyone before their work starts, whatever their nationality, British citizens included. Checking only the people who seem to be from abroad is evidence of discrimination under the Equality Act 2010, so treat every new starter the same way.

From 1 October 2026 the scheme covers more than employees. It also applies to people on a worker’s contract (agency, casual and zero-hours staff), to individual sub-contractors and to work found through online matching services. Someone genuinely self-employed, contracting directly with their own clients, is outside it.

You can ask someone else to carry out the check, but the responsibility stays with you as the employer.

A manual document check of original documents from the Home Office’s List A or List B. This is the usual route for British and Irish citizens.

An online check with a share code, through GOV.UK’s Home Office service. It is the only way to check someone with an eVisa, which has replaced the biometric residence permit: a BRP is no longer acceptable proof.

A digital identity check by a provider on the government’s register and certified for right to work checks. It covers British and Irish passports, and other documents the issuer holds digitally.

Within those rules, you can’t insist on one method: give the person a reasonable chance to prove their right to work. Offer a manual check to anyone who holds physical documents and doesn’t want a digital one, such as British and Irish citizens. Someone whose status is an eVisa can only be checked online.

Obtain the original documents from List A or List B.

Check them with the person there, in person or on a live video call while you hold the originals. Make sure each document is genuine and belongs to them, that the photos and dates of birth match, that any permission hasn’t expired, and that the job fits any limits on their work, such as a student’s term-time hours.

Copy each document in a form that can’t be altered, such as a PDF. For a passport, copy every page with the expiry date, nationality, date of birth, signature, photo and any permission to be in the UK.

Record the date you made the check, either as a dated declaration on the copy or in a record made at the time. Writing a date on the copy is not enough.

The person creates a share code: 9 characters, starting with W. A code starting with R or S is for something else and won’t do. It lasts 90 days.

Enter the code and their date of birth in GOV.UK’s “Check a job applicant’s right to work” service, check the photo is them, and make sure any conditions fit the job. Keep the profile page it shows, as a PDF. Looking at their own view of their status, or a printout of it, is not a check.

A check on someone whose right to work has no time limit protects you for as long as they work for you. For someone with time-limited permission, it protects you only until their permission ends, so check again before then.

Our free right to work follow-up checker works out the date from how you checked.

Keep the copies, the date of each check and any profile page securely for as long as the person works for you and for two years afterwards, then destroy them securely. Be ready to produce them quickly if the Home Office asks.

A correct check gives you a statutory excuse. Without one, employing someone who has no right to do the work can lead to a civil penalty of up to £45,000 per worker for a first breach, and up to £60,000 per worker for a repeat within three years. Knowingly employing an illegal worker is a crime.