Right to Work Check: Employer Compliance Guide 2026
Complete employer guide to right to work checks in the UK: share codes, List A and B documents, IDVT, civil penalties up to £60,000, and record-keeping rules.
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GrokEvery employer in the United Kingdom is legally required to check that each employee has the right to work before employment begins. Failing to carry out this check correctly — or failing to retain adequate records — can result in a civil penalty of up to £60,000 per illegal worker for a repeat breach. This guide sets out the current legal framework, the three recognised checking methods, record-keeping obligations, and the practical answers to the questions employers ask most frequently.
This article is for HR professionals, compliance officers, and business owners responsible for pre-employment screening. It is informational only and does not constitute legal advice.
What is a right to work check and why is it a legal requirement?
A right to work check is a pre-employment verification process that confirms a prospective or existing employee is lawfully entitled to work in the United Kingdom. The legal obligation to perform this check rests with the employer, not the worker.
The legal basis is the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, sections 15–25, which makes it a civil offence to employ a person who does not have the right to work in the UK. As of February 2026, civil penalties reach up to £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach and up to £60,000 per illegal worker for a repeat breach, per the Home Office civil penalty code of practice (updated June 2025).
A compliant check also provides the employer with a statutory excuse — a legal defence against a civil penalty — if it later transpires that the worker did not have permission to work. The statutory excuse only applies if the check was carried out correctly before the first day of employment.
Checks must be applied consistently to every employee regardless of nationality, appearance, name, or accent. Applying checks selectively based on perceived ethnic origin constitutes unlawful racial discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 and can expose employers to separate liability before an Employment Tribunal.
The three recognised checking methods in 2026
There are three methods that establish a statutory excuse. The appropriate method depends on the employee's immigration status and nationality.
Method 1 — Online check via the share code system (mandatory for digital status holders)
The online check is mandatory for employees whose right to work is held digitally. This includes EU, EEA, and Swiss nationals with status under the EU Settlement Scheme, holders of a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) issued before 31 December 2024, and most other workers with an eVisa.
From 1 January 2025, Biometric Residence Permits are no longer issued. All workers previously holding a BRP now hold an eVisa, and right to work must be verified online via the share code system (Home Office eVisa transition guidance, December 2024).
The online check works as follows:
- The employee generates a 9-character alphanumeric share code starting with the letter 'W' at gov.uk/prove-right-to-work.
- The share code is valid for 90 days from the date of generation.
- The employer navigates to gov.uk/view-right-to-work and enters the share code together with the employee's date of birth.
- The Home Office system returns a response confirming whether the worker has the right to work, and if so, whether it is permanent or time-limited.
- The employer must retain a clear copy of the response — either printed or saved electronically — together with the date the check was carried out.
A common question raised on HR forums is: Can I accept a screenshot of the share code result sent to me by the worker? The answer is no. The employer must conduct the check directly at gov.uk/view-right-to-work using the share code and the employee's date of birth. A screenshot provided by the employee does not establish a statutory excuse.
Method 2 — Manual document check (List A and List B documents)
Manual document checks apply to British and Irish citizens who do not hold a digital immigration status, and to any worker who presents an acceptable physical document. The Home Office prescribes two lists of acceptable documents.
| Document List | Status confirmed | Follow-up check required? |
|---|---|---|
| List A | Permanent right to work in the UK | No — one check is sufficient for the duration of employment |
| List B, Group 1 | Time-limited right to work, with Home Office permission | Yes — before the current permission expires |
| List B, Group 2 | Temporary status pending a Home Office decision or appeal | Yes — after 6 months or when the Employer Checking Service (ECS) positive verification notice expires |
List A includes: a British or Irish passport (current or expired), a UK birth certificate combined with a National Insurance document, and a certificate of registration or naturalisation as a British citizen. List B includes time-limited Biometric Residence Permits issued before 31 December 2024 where still valid, and specified visa documentation.
To complete a valid manual check, the employer must:
- Obtain the original document — copies are not acceptable at this stage.
- Check the document is genuine, has not been tampered with, and belongs to the person presenting it.
- Check that photographs, dates of birth, and expiry dates are consistent.
- Make a clear copy and record the date the check was carried out.
Method 3 — Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT) for British and Irish citizens
IDVT allows employers to use certified technology service providers to verify the identity of British and Irish citizens using a digital scan of their passport or identity document. This method has been permitted since April 2022 and does not require the employer to see the original document in person.
IDVT is only available for British and Irish citizens. Employers must use a provider certified under the UK Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework to establish a statutory excuse. Using an uncertified provider does not provide a defence against a civil penalty.
CheckFile provides automated document verification that supports HR and compliance teams in digitising their pre-employment screening workflows, reducing manual review time and improving audit trail quality.
Employer Checking Service (ECS) — for pending immigration applications
The Employer Checking Service is available where an employee or prospective employee cannot provide a document from List A or List B because their immigration application or appeal is pending with the Home Office. The employer submits a request online and receives a Positive Verification Notice (PVN) if the person has a right to work. The PVN is valid for 6 months.
A related question that frequently appears on HR practitioner forums is: What should I do if an employee's share code is expired or the system is unavailable? If the share code has expired (after 90 days), the employee must generate a new one at gov.uk/prove-right-to-work. If there is a technical issue preventing the online check from being completed, the employer should use the Employer Checking Service as an alternative route.
Record-keeping obligations
Retaining evidence of a right to work check is a separate obligation from conducting the check itself. Both are required.
Evidence must be retained for the entire duration of employment plus a minimum of two years after employment ends, regardless of the checking method used. This rule applies equally to online checks (retain a copy of the response page), manual document checks (retain copies of all documents checked), and IDVT checks (retain the verification result from the certified provider).
Records should clearly show:
- Which documents or online response were reviewed
- The date the check was carried out
- For online checks: the share code used and the date of birth entered
- For manual checks: that original documents were examined
The Home Office may request evidence of right to work checks during a compliance audit. An employer who cannot produce records for a current or former employee will not benefit from a statutory excuse, even if a check was carried out at the time.
Follow-up checks for time-limited workers
Where an employee has a time-limited right to work — confirmed via a List B document or an online check showing a visa or leave expiry date — the employer must carry out a follow-up check before that permission expires.
For most temporary workers, the Home Office recommends that employers schedule follow-up checks 12 to 24 months before expiry to allow time to act if the worker's status has changed. The follow-up check follows the same process as the initial check and must be recorded and retained.
From July 2024, employers are no longer required to conduct repeat checks on EU Settlement Scheme pre-settled status holders. A single pre-employment check is sufficient for the duration of employment for this category of worker, following the Home Office's updated guidance reflecting the judgment in Independent Monitoring Authority v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022]. This applies to checks conducted on or after 6 April 2022 where the employer retained evidence of the original check.
Civil penalties and the risk of non-compliance
The civil penalty regime is designed to create a meaningful financial deterrent. The penalty levels as of February 2026 are:
| Breach type | Maximum penalty per illegal worker |
|---|---|
| First breach | £45,000 |
| Repeat breach (within 3 years of a previous referral) | £60,000 |
These figures were increased from £20,000 and £45,000 respectively by the Illegal Migration Act 2023, which came into force on 13 February 2024. The Home Office may reduce a penalty — to as low as £0 in some circumstances — where an employer has a clear and consistent compliance framework, acts promptly upon discovering a worker without entitlement, and cooperates fully with enforcement. An employer with no statutory excuse who has knowingly employed an illegal worker faces potential criminal prosecution with an unlimited fine and up to 5 years' imprisonment.
For a broader view of employer document verification obligations across multiple compliance frameworks, see our document compliance guide.
Anti-discrimination requirements
Right to work checks must be applied uniformly across the workforce. Selecting workers for checks based on nationality, ethnicity, linguistic accent, or name is a breach of the Equality Act 2010 and may result in an Employment Tribunal claim for racial discrimination.
The practical safeguard is a written procedure that specifies:
- That checks are required for all new employees from day one
- Which member of staff is responsible for carrying out checks
- The order in which documents are requested (offering all employees the same options in the same sequence)
- How records are stored and for how long
The Home Office Employer's Guide to Right to Work Checks (last updated June 2025) contains the complete list of acceptable documents and worked examples. Citizens Advice provides a complementary guide for employees who need to understand what documents they may be asked to produce.
Integrating right to work checks into a wider compliance framework
Right to work verification is one component of a broader pre-employment compliance process. Employers in regulated sectors — financial services, legal, healthcare, and others — are also subject to Know Your Customer obligations, sanctions screening, and sector-specific background check requirements. For organisations onboarding employees and clients simultaneously, maintaining separate manual processes for each check type creates cost, delay, and audit risk.
CheckFile supports compliance teams in automating document verification across identity, residency, and right to work evidence, reducing the processing time per file and producing a timestamped audit trail suitable for regulatory inspection. The platform integrates with HR and onboarding systems via API, enabling checks to be embedded directly into existing workflows. See our security infrastructure for details of the data protection standards applied to document processing, or review pricing options for teams of different sizes.
For organisations with KYC obligations running in parallel with employment onboarding, our KYC 2026 requirements guide covers the current regulatory landscape for identity verification in financial services. Employers conducting due diligence on contractors and supply chain partners may also find our due diligence checklist for businesses a useful reference.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to carry out a right to work check for every employee?
Yes. Every employer in the UK must carry out a right to work check for every employee before employment begins, regardless of the employee's nationality, how long they have worked for the business previously, or whether they are employed on a permanent or temporary basis. There is no de minimis exception for small employers or sole traders.
What happens if an employee's share code has expired?
Share codes are valid for 90 days from the date of generation. If a code has expired, the employee must log in to gov.uk/prove-right-to-work and generate a new one. The employer cannot verify the right to work using an expired share code and should not allow employment to commence until a valid code has been verified. If the employee is unable to generate a share code due to a technical issue with the Home Office system, the Employer Checking Service should be used as an alternative.
Can I rely on a BRP to verify a worker's right to work in 2026?
No. Biometric Residence Permits expired as a form of right to work evidence on 31 December 2024. Workers who previously held a BRP have been transitioned to the eVisa system and must now share their right to work digitally using the share code process at gov.uk/view-right-to-work. An employer who accepts a physical BRP as a standalone document after this date will not establish a statutory excuse.
Do I need to conduct repeat checks on EU Settlement Scheme pre-settled status holders?
No. Since July 2024, employers are not required to conduct repeat checks on employees with EU Settlement Scheme pre-settled status. A single pre-employment online check is sufficient for the duration of employment, provided the employer retains evidence of the original check. This applies to checks conducted on or after 6 April 2022.
What should I do if a new employee cannot immediately provide evidence of their right to work?
If a prospective employee has an outstanding application, administrative review, or appeal with the Home Office, they may not be able to provide a document from List A or B. In this situation, the employer should use the Employer Checking Service before allowing the person to commence work. Commencing employment without either a valid document check or a Positive Verification Notice from the ECS leaves the employer without a statutory excuse and at risk of a civil penalty.
This article is informational only and does not constitute legal or immigration advice. Right to work legislation and Home Office guidance are subject to change; employers should verify current requirements at gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-work-checks-employers-guide and seek specialist immigration law advice where necessary. CheckFile supports employers with document verification workflows — visit our pricing page to explore options for your team.