Right to work checks – have your say
21st November, 2025
As part of the government's pledge to combating illegal working in the UK, the Border, Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill (Bill) is set to propose some very significant changes to right to work checks and how they work.
Current position
Currently, right to work checks are only required to be completed by employers for those individuals employed by a business. However, with the changes in the modern workplace and the prevalence of subcontracting, agency worker and the gig economy, the government has identified that this distinction is no longer suitable.
The government has identified that such working arrangements have led to notable gaps, giving risk to blind spots within the legislation.
Proposed changes to right to work checks
The Bill has been introduced to extend right to work checks and civil penalties to zero-hours workers, subcontractors, agency workers and gig economy workers. The reforms aim to close this gap, meaning businesses with non-traditional labour will face the same obligations as direct employers to ensure the right to work of their workers. The government’s hope is that these changes will “restore order to the immigration system and ensure tougher enforcement of the rules“. Whilst these changes will impact all sectors, industries such as construction, hospitality, food services and retail will likely feel a huge burden with the increased administrative tasks and costs of carrying out the additional right to work checks.
We don’t yet have the details about the changes and the Bill is currently at its third reading within the House of Lords.
The current proposal is that failure to comply with the new proposed rules could result in businesses being liable to pay civil penalties of £45,000 for a first offence and £60,000 for repeat offences or criminal liabilities for deliberate breaches so it is very important that businesses start to consider these checks and how they will tackle the changes going forward.
What can you do?
Alex Norris, Labour MP for Nottingham North and Kimberley and Minister of State at the Home Office has recently announced a consultation for employers across the United Kingdom to share their views on how these new requirements should be applied and enforced. You can participate in the consultation by completing the online questionnaire or alternatively, downloading a copy of that questionnaire and sending it to righttorentandrighttowork@homeoffice.gov.uk.
The government will then consider those responses and use them to inform the preparation of guidance notes and the statutory code of practice that supports the scheme.
The public consultation is currently underway and will close at 11.59pm on 10 December 2025.
For some businesses, this may not be a significant change, but for others, where there is a significant reliance on self-employed individuals or agency workers, the administrative burden and operational requirement to verify the right to work check in person or via video link can be problematic. We would encourage as many businesses as possible to participate, share your feedback about how these changes could impact your business and any suggestions you might have. If the government doesn’t know about them, they won’t be able to consider them!
If you’d like support with right to work compliance, please get in touch.
Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.
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