The rules around how employers check an applicant’s Right to Work in the UK has changed. Tony Machin, Chair of the Association of Document Validation Professionals and CEO of TrustID, a certified identity service provider (IDSP) in the UK, explains what recruiters need to know about the changes and why it is important to act now.

First a bit of scene setting. For the past fourteen years, since February 2008, UK employers have had to check that their employees have the necessary permission to work in the UK. This means checking the documents of all employees, usually as part of the recruitment process. Up until COVID restrictions were introduced in March 2020, this was done manually with the physical documents handed over and checked by recruitment managers. During the pandemic, the rules were changed so that people could provide their documents remotely via video calls and email. 

This worked well for many people and on 6th April the Government updated its Right to Work guidance and launched a new digital Right to Work Scheme for online Right to Work (RtW) checks. The digital Scheme allows employers to continue to verify the identity of eligible employees remotely, without having to see original documents. Digital checks can only be carried out via an Identity Service Provider (IDSP)

Roll forward six months and the Covid-adjusted remote check option ends. From 1 October 2022 employers can decide whether to:

• introduce digital checks for eligible applicants (the digital Scheme remains optional for UK/Irish in-date passport holders),
• return to manual RtW checks using physical documents
• combine the two checking methods. 

The choice will depend on the applicant’s demographics and the employer’s internal recruitment processes.

Applicants who are eligible for digital RtW checks include British and Irish citizens who hold a valid passport (including Irish passport cards). It’s important to note that digital checks must be performed by an IDSP. Remote checks are also available to applicants who hold digital visas, or eVisas, but these can be done through the Home Office checking service or through an IDSP if they have created an interface to that service.

Regarding digital checks on holders of British and Irish in-date passports, the Government recommends working with a certified IDSP. Employers don’t have to choose a certified IDSP, but it gives the reassurance that they meet the required standards under the UK Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework, and provides a Statutory Excuse if an illegal applicant is detected later. 

Making a digital or remote check means that the employer doesn’t see the applicant’s original document or the person who is uploading it. So, an employer should check that the employee matches the applicant to avoid ‘imposter fraud’, that is an applicant using a legitimate proof of RtW which doesn’t belong to them. To address this, applicants capture a selfie and the IDSP uses biometric facial matching to compare it with the image of the applicant used in the identity verification. 

To complete a compliant digital check, the employer themselves must also confirm that the employee who turns up to work matches the identity of the person who has been verified during the RtW check. The employer confirms this by seeing the person in a face-to-face meeting or over a video call. 

The Right to Work check process is important as all employers in the UK, whatever the size of business and whichever sector they operate in, must ensure that every employee goes through a check to confirm that they can work in the UK. There are tough penalties for employing an illegal worker or someone without permission to work in the UK if thorough checks are not carried out. 

Managing this in-house is time-consuming and can take up a lot of resources, and can still leave a business exposed to risk if the procedures aren’t water-tight. Using technology can alleviate the workload and the worry.