Non-British residents must have a valid immigration status that allows them to work in the UK. This means applying for a visa to the Ministry of the Interior. As an employer, you have a legal obligation to comply with illegal work prevention legislation. 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.
Verification of the right to work of the person's original documents must be done before starting work. When requesting proof, you can check if a document allows a person to work in the United Kingdom using a practical tool in the government website. To do this, you must request a right to work check from the Employer Verification Service (ECS), using the online form “request a right to work check from the Home Office”. The employer must keep a copy of the right to work check in the form of a “profile” page that verifies the person's fitness to work.
You could face a civil penalty if you hire an illegal worker and you haven't performed a proper verification of the right to work. If current employees have limited permission to stay and work, you should be sure to schedule and perform a follow-up check before their current leave period expires. Employers cannot discriminate or treat less favourably people without passports or people who do not want to use digital checks. It is good risk management practice to ensure that all the right to work processes you have in place meet the requirements and are implemented in a consistent and correct manner. The Employer's Check Service (ECS) is a free online service from the Ministry of the Interior that allows employers to meet their obligation to verify employees' right to work in circumstances where the person cannot use checks online or provide acceptable documentation for manual checks. You must have a sponsor's license and perform a verification of the right to work in accordance with updated guidelines from the Ministry of the Interior.
