As a UK employer, it is your legal obligation to comply with legislation on the prevention of illegal work. This requires that you carry out basic checks on all employees resident in the United Kingdom to verify that they have the necessary permission to perform the work offered. It is important to note that, as part of pre-hire checks, checks must be carried out indiscriminately on all potential employees, regardless of their nationality, race or ethnic origin. Verifying the right to work means verifying a document that is acceptable to show permission to work.
This must be done before hiring an individual to ensure that they are legally authorized to do the work in question for you. You are also required to carry out a follow-up check on people who have a limited-time permit to work in the UK. As a requirement of the Ministry of the Interior, if right-to-work controls are not carried out, serious sanctions can be imposed on the people involved. The selection of certain classes of people could lead to complaints of unlawful discrimination. Labor law states that every new employee must be subject to right-to-work (RTW) controls.
This is to ensure that a person has the correct documents to work legally in the UK. Of course, it's particularly important if you're hiring from abroad. Checks must be performed before hiring a person to ensure that they are legally entitled to work for you. Applicants should know that other participation codes (such as right-to-rent checks) cannot be used instead of a right-to-work code. If you are found to have neglected your responsibility as an employer to perform a right to work verification, you will receive a penalty notice from HMRC. Once you have done this check, you will need to proceed with a follow-up check on this person's right to work if they have a limited-time permit to be in the UK and perform the work in question.
You must keep all copies of documents taken securely for the duration of the worker's employment and for two years thereafter. The copy must then be securely destroyed. When a potential employee provides you with a “non-digital” CoA as proof of an application submitted to the EUSS, you should contact the person and ask them to provide a code of actions to verify their right to work, as indicated in the “Digital Application Certificate” section above. Alternatively, you can choose to ask only the selected candidate to submit documents about their right to work before starting to work with you. Employers should also use the ECS to ask the Ministry of the Interior to verify a person's immigration status if they have a registration card or a digital or non-digital application certificate stating that it is necessary to ask the Ministry of the Interior to verify their right to work. If you have used an identity service provider (IDSP) to perform digital identity checks on British and Irish citizens who hold a valid passport (including Irish passport cards), you will maintain the obligations set out in this guide. While online right-to-work controls only apply to specific types of visas, such as BRP, eVisas and the border work permit. It is recommended that employers verify the right to work during the interview phase and carry out follow-up checks when necessary.
This guide advises employers how best they can comply with labor laws and avoid liability for civil sanctions.
