Extending right to work checks - what might be the implications?

The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 (which has just completed the parliamentary process by receiving Royal Assent on 2 December 2025) will introduce significant changes to right to work checks. The law hasn’t been implemented yet but employers need to be aware of the implications.

Right to work checks have been a standard process for employers when making new hires as they seek to confirm that their employees have correct immigration permission to work in the UK. The change in the law seeks to significantly expand the scope of right to work checks. The planned change will require that those engaged under a worker’s contract, sub-contractors and those being provided through an online matching service must also evidence their right to work (RTW) and valid immigration permission.

Who will be caught by the new law

The change is focused on workers who have been outside of the current RTW regime, such as delivery drivers, construction workers, and so-called gig economy workers – which are perceived by the government and the Home Office as potential hotspots of illegal working. But the repercussion of the new law is likely to be wide-ranging and affect most employers.
Full details and the scope of the new arrangements have not been released and the start date of the legislation is unknown. Section 48 of the new Act includes that three types of non-employees will need to have their right to work checked:

1. Workers (who fall into this category as non-employees, including those on casual or irregular working arrangements).
2. Individuals using online matching services (that provide details of service providers to potential clients or customers for remuneration – via agencies and digital platforms).
3. Individual sub-contractors (where a business or individual has a contract to carry out work for a company but they sub-contract the work to someone else). This will likely catch businesses who use, for example, temporary office staff provided through recruitment agencies, or perhaps cleaning staff provided through agencies.

Not straightforward

Under the planned law, if a business engages a worker in certain circumstances, not just an employee, it must check their immigration permission, and a failure to do so could attract a civil penalty if the worker is without correct immigration permission. For example, if you instruct someone to perform work for a business, but the individual subsequently contracts this out to another person, a business might be expected to confirm that this new sub-contractor has permission to undertake the work requested in the UK.

It is clear that the government has ambitions to try and suppress illegal working, but any RTW scheme involving a wider definition of workers is likely to require wholesale reform and updating of the current RTW processes. This might prove, at least in the short-term, to be technically very difficult. The varied approaches and impracticalities of performing RTW checks for British and Irish nationals make the potential system cumbersome. Completing these processes when large numbers of workers may be involved in a project or construction site and/or undertaking very short-term tasks is difficult to picture. The proposals are likely to be intertwined with new digital ID cards and an overhaul of how RTW checks are performed, as the existing processes will likely be unruly and bureaucratic.

Furthermore, an elaborate assessment that seeks to identify contractors and subcontractors and at which point in a long chain of contracts RTW checks need to be undertaken and which entity or individual is responsible for this is likely to be administratively fiddly for the Home Office as well as businesses, and eventually the courts when considering the civil penalties.

As an aside, it is worth noting that, although individual directors and LLP members are now required to verify their identity with Companies House, this is a separate process that does not evidence lawful right to work in the UK.

How employers can prepare

In anticipation of the changes, organisations that might be caught by these can take steps to mitigate their risks and prepare. These steps could include:

1. Audit: Carry out an audit of the people working for the business and map all engagement types (i.e. employees, zero-hours/casual workers, agency-suppled staff, contractors and subcontractors and gig economy workers via platforms). Companies can go further and carry out an impact assessment to consider how the proposals may affect the business in terms of cost/resource and time required to comply with the new rules when they come in.
2. Review onboarding policies and consider what updates/changes may be required: Businesses can review their current onboarding/RTW check practices and think about what they may need to change/put in place to check non-employee engagements (e.g. freelancers, agency staff, etc). Employers can also consider widening the scope of their RTW checks voluntarily. More specifically, if a company engages agency workers via an agency, it could carry out RTW checks on the agency workers before they start work; and if they engage a consultant or contractor – either directly or via a personal service company – a RTW check can be carried out before the individual (or any substitute) does any work. Some employers will wish to undertake identification and RTW checks on all individuals who provide work or services for or on their behalf, regardless of where the legal responsibility for such checks will ultimately sit.  Regulated clients should also consider the interface between the new RTW checks regime and their existing vetting and screening procedures for new hires, as well as for current staff on annual re-certification. 
3. Review contracts: Review contracts for the supply of services or consultancy agreements and include clauses allocating responsibility for carrying out RTW checks, requiring evidence of compliance and indemnities in the event that any issues subsequently come to light.
4. Train HR/staff: Train relevant members of staff on the new rules and any new policies/practices put in place to comply with them.

Responding to the government consultation

A government consultation/survey has been released on the proposed changes and we continue to encourage employers to respond. The deadline to respond to the survey is 10 December 2025. Our team is providing input to the consultation, and we now have to wait for an implementation date for the changes as well as guidance clarifying the scenarios which will be caught.

If you have any queries in relation to the above issues, please contact our immigration team or employment team.