Right to Work Checks: Practical Habits That Protect Your Business

By Carmen Neagu, 10 February 2026

Right to Work checks are rarely ignored deliberately. In most businesses, they sit alongside dozens of other onboarding tasks and are handled by people who are trying to do the right thing, often without specialist HR support.

Where employers tend to come unstuck is not through a lack of effort, but through small gaps in how checks are completed, recorded, or followed up. Those gaps often stay invisible until the Home Office asks to see evidence, at which point it becomes clear that something important was missed or done out of sequence.

This is why Right to Work checks continue to feature so heavily in published civil penalty lists.

What recent penalties tell us

The Home Office regularly publishes details of employers who have received civil penalties for illegal working. The amounts involved are significant and the businesses affected range widely across sectors and locations.

Recent examples published on GOV.UK include employers fined £120,000, £135,000, £180,000 and £200,000 for breaches linked to Right to Work compliance. In many cases, the issue was not that no checks had taken place, but that they were incomplete, carried out too late, or could not be evidenced in line with the guidance.

This is an important distinction, because it reinforces a key point: Right to Work compliance depends on process and proof, not assumptions or good intentions.

Identity checks and Right to Work checks are different

A recurring source of confusion is the assumption that confirming someone’s identity also satisfies Right to Work requirements.

Identity checks are about establishing who someone is. Right to Work checks are about confirming that the individual has permission to work in the UK, for the role offered, and that the employer has followed the prescribed steps before employment begins.

Both matter, but they serve different purposes, and only one provides a statutory excuse against a civil penalty.

The importance of seeing the individual

Home Office guidance is clear that Right to Work checks must be carried out in the presence of the individual. In practice, this means either an in-person check or a live video interaction where the employer is in physical possession of the original documents.

Simply receiving scans by email, even if they look genuine, does not meet the requirement on its own. The check must be active, timely, and demonstrable.

Where Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT) is used for British or Irish passport holders, this does not remove the need for human verification. Employers still need to satisfy themselves that the person presenting for work matches the identity verified digitally.

A straightforward and proportionate approach many organisations now adopt is to combine IDVT with a short video call before the individual starts work, taking a dated screenshot during the call and retaining this alongside the IDVT output. This creates a clear record that the individual was seen and verified before employment commenced.

Using eVisas and share codes properly

As more immigration status evidence moves online, eVisas and share codes are becoming a routine part of Right to Work checks. When using the online checking service, employers must retain evidence of the check, including the individual’s profile page showing their photograph and the date the check was completed.

Where permission to work is time-limited, the responsibility does not end with the initial check. Follow-up checks must be carried out before the permission expires, using the same prescribed process. Where there are conditions on the visa, like student visas or sponsored workers taking on additional work, then the employer needs to keep on top of these throughout the employment.

This is an area where risk can build quietly, particularly in growing businesses or those with multiple managers involved in hiring and potentially high turnover.

Keeping track without over-engineering the process

Right to Work compliance does not require complex systems to be effective. What it does require is visibility and consistency.

A simple tracking spreadsheet is often sufficient, provided it is kept up to date and actively used. Typically, this would record:

• the individual’s name and role
• how the Right to Work check was completed
• the date the check took place and who completed it
• any expiry date linked to time-limited permission
• the date a follow-up check is due

Setting reminders well in advance of expiry dates allows issues to be addressed calmly and avoids last-minute pressure.

Guidance changes, and processes need to keep pace

One of the ongoing challenges with Right to Work compliance is that the guidance does evolve. Digital checks, acceptable evidence, and transitional arrangements have all changed over recent years, and further updates should be expected.

This means it is not enough to rely on what worked previously. Periodic reviews of your process against current GOV.UK guidance help ensure that your approach remains compliant and defensible if queried.

A final point on assurance

As part of good governance, it is sensible for employers to periodically audit their Right to Work processes, particularly if responsibilities are spread across managers or sites. An external audit can provide reassurance that checks are being carried out correctly, records are robust, and any gaps are identified before they become a problem.

Please reach out if you would like support with organising an independent audit of your Right to Work processes; this can offer valuable peace of mind and help ensure your approach stands up to scrutiny.