Right to work checks: the complete UK employer guide
Every UK employer must check that a person has the right to work before they start — no exceptions, no shortcuts. This guide covers the three approved check routes, acceptable documents, the statutory excuse, follow-up checks and record-keeping — and where the right to work check sits alongside reference checks in a complete onboarding pack.
What is a right to work check — and why every UK employer must do one
A right to work check confirms that a person is legally allowed to work in the UK before they start employment. It is a legal duty on every employer, for every hire, of every nationality — including British citizens. Employing someone who does not have the right to work exposes the business to substantial civil penalties, and knowingly doing so is a criminal offence. Done correctly, the check gives you a statutory excuse — legal protection if a worker later turns out not to have the right to work. Done late, done wrong, or not documented, it gives you nothing. The rules and current penalty amounts are published on gov.uk.
How to check right to work: the three approved routes
There is no single way to check right to work. Which route you use depends on the candidate's nationality and how their immigration status is held. Every route ends the same way: dated evidence retained on file before day one.
Manual document check
You obtain the candidate's original documents from the Home Office acceptable document lists, check them with the holder present, and keep clear dated copies.
- Original documents only — no photos, scans or photocopies supplied by the candidate
- Check photos, dates of birth, expiry dates and any work restrictions are consistent
- Copy each document, mark the date of the check, and retain it securely
Home Office online check
Most people with UK immigration status now hold it digitally as an eVisa — physical biometric residence permits have been phased out. These candidates prove their status with a share code.
- The candidate generates a share code from the gov.uk "prove your right to work" service
- You enter the code and their date of birth into the gov.uk employer checking service
- Check the photo shown matches the person, then retain the result page on file
Digital IDSP check
For holders of valid British or Irish passports (including Irish passport cards), a certified Identity Service Provider (IDSP) can verify identity remotely using identity document validation technology (IDVT).
- Only available for in-date British and Irish passports — not expired documents
- You must still satisfy yourself the IDVT result relates to the person in front of you
- Retain the IDVT output as your evidence, dated, for the required period
What is a right to work document?
Acceptable documents fall into two Home Office lists. Which list a document sits on determines whether your statutory excuse is continuous or time-limited — and whether you need to check again later.
| Document group | Examples | Statutory excuse | Follow-up check? |
|---|---|---|---|
| List A — permanent right to work | British passport (current or expired), Irish passport or passport card, evidence of settled status, certificate of naturalisation with photo ID | Continuous | No — one compliant check covers the whole employment |
| List B — time-limited right to work | Time-limited visa or permission evidenced by a share code, documents showing permission valid to a set date | Time-limited | Yes — before the person's current permission expires |
| Digital status (eVisa) | Share code generated from a UKVI account, checked via the gov.uk service | As shown on result | Only if the online result shows an expiry date |
| Not acceptable on their own | Driving licence, National Insurance number, photocopies, expired visas, documents emailed by the candidate | None | A compliant check via one of the three routes is still required |
The full acceptable document lists are maintained by the Home Office and change over time — always work from the current employer's guide to right to work checks on gov.uk rather than a saved copy.
When to check, follow-up checks and the statutory excuse
Check before employment starts — not on day one
The check must be completed before the person begins work. A check carried out on their first morning, after they have started, or "during induction week" is too late to establish a statutory excuse from the start of employment. Build the check into your offer process, alongside references, so nothing starts until both are done.
Follow-up checks for time-limited permission
If a worker's right to work is time-limited, your statutory excuse is time-limited too. You must carry out a follow-up check before their current permission expires. Diarise the expiry date at the point of hire — a missed follow-up check leaves you employing someone with no protection if their permission has lapsed.
The statutory excuse — what it is and how you lose it
Carrying out a compliant check before employment starts gives you a statutory excuse: legal protection against a civil penalty if the worker turns out not to have the right to work. The excuse only holds if you followed one of the three approved routes exactly and kept the evidence. Checks done through the wrong route — for example a manual check of a document that should have been checked online — establish no excuse at all.
Civil penalties for illegal working are substantial
Employers found employing someone without the right to work — and without a statutory excuse — face civil penalties charged per worker, and the amounts have risen sharply in recent years. Knowingly employing an illegal worker is a criminal offence, and sponsor licences and business reputations rarely survive an enforcement visit intact. We deliberately don't quote figures here: check gov.uk for the current penalty amounts.
Record-keeping: retain the evidence, dated, securely
Keep a clear copy of the evidence from whichever route you used — document copies, the online check result, or the IDVT output — marked with the date the check was carried out. Home Office guidance requires you to retain it for the duration of the person's employment and for a further period after they leave; gov.uk sets out the current retention requirement. Undated or missing evidence means no statutory excuse, however diligent the original check was.
Check everyone — consistently
Right to work checks must be carried out on every hire regardless of nationality, accent, name or appearance. Checking only the candidates you assume might be from overseas is discriminatory and indefensible. The simplest compliant policy is also the fairest: everyone is checked, through the appropriate route, before they start.
Right to work checks and reference checks: two halves of one job
A right to work check verifies a person's legal status. It says nothing about whether they are good at the job, honest about their history, or safe to employ. That is what reference checks are for — and both belong in the same onboarding pack, completed before day one.
The reference half, automated — from 99p per reference.
Candidate GDPR consent with digital signature · Secure single-use referee links · Automated email and SMS chasing over ~12 days · Structured PDF report with full audit trail — ready to file next to the right to work evidence.
Right to work checks in practice: a working guide for UK employers
Right to work checking looks simple on paper — confirm the person can work in the UK before they start — but the detail is where employers get caught out. The rules changed substantially with the move to eVisas and digital status, the acceptable document lists are updated periodically, and the route you must use depends on what the candidate holds. This section works through the practical questions that come up most often.
How to check someone's right to work with a share code
For anyone whose immigration status is held digitally — which now covers most people with UK visas, settled status or pre-settled status — the online route is the only valid one. The candidate logs into their UKVI account and generates a share code using the gov.uk "prove your right to work" service. You then enter that code, together with the candidate's date of birth, into the employer-facing "check a job applicant's right to work" service. The result shows the person's photograph, their right to work status, and any conditions or expiry date attached to it.
Two practical points matter here. First, the photo check is part of the check: you must satisfy yourself that the photograph on the result matches the person in front of you (or on the video call). Second, share codes are valid for a limited time, so run the check promptly once the candidate sends one — and retain the result page itself, dated, not just a note saying the check was done.
Manual checks: what "original documents" really means
The manual route only works with original documents from the current acceptable lists, checked while the holder is present. A photo of a passport texted over by the candidate is not a right to work check. A photocopy brought in by the candidate is not a right to work check. When you do have the originals in hand, check that photographs and dates of birth are consistent across documents and with the person, that the documents have not expired where that matters, and that any work restrictions — for example, limits on hours for student visa holders — are noted and workable for the role. Then copy the documents, record the date of the check, and file the copies securely.
Digital identity checks through an IDSP
Since employers were permitted to use certified Identity Service Providers, holders of valid British and Irish passports can be checked remotely using identity document validation technology. This is the route that makes fully remote onboarding possible for British and Irish candidates without couriering passports around the country. It is optional — a manual check of the passport remains valid — and it is only available for in-date passports. The IDVT output becomes your evidence, and the same retention rules apply. Employers in regulated sectors should also note that a digital identity check verifies the document and the identity, not the person's employment history: safer recruitment reference checks remain a separate requirement.
Where right to work checks sit in pre-employment screening
The right to work check is one item in a wider pre-employment pack. For most employers that pack is: right to work evidence, at least two employment references, and — in regulated work — a DBS check at the appropriate level. In care, the CQC expects all of this evidenced under Regulation 19, with references covering employment history and safeguarding suitability; our guide to care worker pre-employment checks and the detail of CQC reference checking requirements cover that side. In education, KCSIE safer recruitment sets the equivalent standard — see our guides to school pre-employment checks and KCSIE reference checking. In health, the NHS Employment Check Standards list right to work and references side by side as mandatory checks — covered in our guide to healthcare pre-employment checks.
The common thread across every sector: right to work verifies legal status; references verify the person. A candidate can hold a perfectly valid British passport and still have been dismissed from their last three roles for conduct. Neither check substitutes for the other, and both need to be complete — and evidenced — before the person starts.
The most common right to work mistakes
The failures that cost employers are rarely exotic. They are: checking after the start date rather than before; accepting a photocopy or an emailed image instead of running a proper check; using the manual route for someone whose status is digital-only; forgetting the follow-up check when time-limited permission expires; and doing the check correctly but failing to keep dated evidence. Every one of these leaves the employer with no statutory excuse. The fix in each case is process, not effort — a standard pre-start checklist that no offer can bypass.
That checklist logic is exactly why employers automate the reference half of the pack. References fail for the same procedural reasons right to work checks do: chasing referees drifts past the start date, replies live in individual inboxes, and nothing is consistently evidenced. Reference checking software closes that gap the way the gov.uk online service closes the right to work gap — a defined process, automated chasing, and a dated evidence trail at the end. RefAssure captures candidate consent with a digital signature, contacts referees directly through secure single-use links, chases by email and SMS over roughly twelve days, and delivers a structured PDF report with a full audit trail. You can see the full flow on our how it works page, try the referee experience via a sample reference template, or check pricing — pay-as-you-go from 99p per reference, no subscription, and credits never expire.
Who does what: gov.uk for status, RefAssure for references
One honest note to finish on. Right to work checks are carried out through the government's own services or the approved routes described above — they are free (aside from optional IDSP fees), and no third-party platform can do them for you or improve on them. RefAssure does not perform right to work checks and you should be wary of anyone charging for something the gov.uk service does directly. What we do is make the other mandatory check — employment reference checking — as fast and well-evidenced as the online right to work check, so the whole onboarding pack is complete before day one. Common questions about how that works are answered in our FAQs.
Right to work checks — questions answered
A right to work check is the process every UK employer must complete to confirm a person is legally allowed to work in the UK before they start employment. It is done through one of three approved routes: a manual check of original documents, a Home Office online check using a share code, or a digital identity check through a certified identity service provider for British and Irish passport holders. Done correctly, it gives the employer a statutory excuse against a civil penalty.
Use one of the three approved routes. Manual: obtain original acceptable documents, check them with the holder present, keep dated copies. Online: the candidate gives you a share code and date of birth, which you enter into the gov.uk right to work checking service. Digital IDSP: for valid British or Irish passports, a certified identity service provider verifies identity remotely. Whichever route applies, complete it before employment starts.
A share code is generated by the candidate from their UKVI account using the gov.uk prove your right to work service. You enter the code plus the candidate's date of birth into the gov.uk employer checking service, which shows their photo, status and any expiry date. Check the photo matches the person and retain the result page. Share codes are valid for a limited time, so check promptly.
A document from the Home Office acceptable document lists that proves someone can work in the UK. List A documents — such as a British or Irish passport or evidence of settled status — prove a permanent right to work. List B documents prove a time-limited right and require a follow-up check before permission expires. Many people now prove status digitally via an eVisa and share code instead of a physical document.
Before employment starts — not on the first day, not during induction. A late check cannot establish a statutory excuse from the start of employment. Workers with time-limited permission also need a follow-up check before their current permission expires.
The legal protection an employer gains by carrying out a right to work check correctly, through an approved route, before employment begins. If the worker later turns out not to have the right to work, an employer with a valid statutory excuse is protected against a civil penalty. A check done late, through the wrong route, or without retained evidence provides no protection.
Yes. Checks must be carried out on every person you employ, regardless of nationality or how obviously British they seem. Checking only candidates you assume might be from overseas is discriminatory. British citizens are typically checked using their passport, manually or through a certified digital identity service provider.
No — right to work status is checked through the gov.uk services or an approved route, and no third party can replace that duty. RefAssure covers the other half of pre-employment screening: automated reference checks with candidate consent, direct referee contact, automated chasing and a structured PDF report with full audit trail, from 99p per reference.
More pre-employment screening guides
Right to work: sorted on gov.uk.
References: sorted here — from 99p.
Complete the onboarding pack. Candidate consent, direct referee contact, automated chasing and a structured PDF report with full audit trail — on every reference, automatically.
From 99p per reference · No subscription, no contract · Credits never expire · UK data hosting