Right to Work Checks: What Changed for Employers on 1 October 2026

Short answer: From 1 October 2026, the right to work scheme covers more than employees. Businesses that engage people under a worker’s contract or as individual sub-contractors, run online matching platforms, or sit in a contracting chain can now face a civil penalty per illegal worker. The starting point is £45,000 for a first breach and £60,000 for a repeat breach within three years. Employers should check every engagement type and review their contracts.

Most employers think of right to work checks as something done for new employees on day one. That is still true, but the scope widened on 1 October 2026. If you use contractors, freelancers, labour providers or a platform that matches people to jobs, you may now carry responsibility for checks you have never done before.

What has changed

The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 broadened who counts as an employer for right to work purposes. From 1 October 2026 the scheme applies to people who engage someone under:

• a contract of employment, including apprenticeships
• a worker’s contract, meaning a non-employee contract where the individual must do the work personally and the other party is not their client or customer
• an individual sub-contractor arrangement
• an online matching service, where a platform lists service providers and charges a fee or commission when a match is made
• Treating contractors as outside the scheme because they invoice you. The contract label does not decide it, the substance does.
• Checking people on day two or day three, after they have started. The check must come first.
• Taking a photo of a passport on a phone or relying on a screenshot of a document. Manual checks need originals seen in the person’s presence, in person or by live video link.
• Relying on a supplier’s verbal assurance. Ask for written confirmation and an evidence sample.
• Forgetting the dates. The Home Office guide applies the new rules to worker’s contracts, individual sub-contractors and online matching services where the engagement started on or after 1 October 2026, and to extended liability where the contractual arrangement was entered into on or after that date. New and renewed contracts matter first, but review older ones at renewal.

The Home Office guidance also describes extended liability. This can arise where a business contracts to supply work or services to a third party and then uses another employer’s staff to deliver it, where a platform matches a provider to a client who then contracts directly with them, or where a business engages an individual under a contract that lets them send a substitute.

The Home Office Code of Practice sets the starting point for a civil penalty at £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach, and £60,000 per illegal worker where the employer has had a civil penalty, warning notice or conviction for illegal working within the previous three years. The amount can be reduced by £5,000 per worker for reporting suspected illegal working to the Home Office before it identifies the worker, and by another £5,000 for active co-operation. A first-time employer with effective right to work practices who reports and co-operates may receive a warning notice instead. A faster payment option reduces a first penalty by 30% if paid within 21 days.

The Home Office says it will ordinarily look first to the person responsible for the direct contractual relationship, and it assesses the arrangement on its substance rather than the label in the contract.

Who is outside the new rules

Not every business that buys in services is caught. An organisation that simply buys a service for its own use, such as cleaning, repairs or consulting, and does not pass that service on to a third party, is outside extended liability. A standard agency arrangement where workers are supplied to work in your own operation also does not trigger it. Individuals who run their own genuine business and contract directly with customers sit outside the scheme.

A quick test is whether you are part of a chain, supplying a service onwards, or engaging someone personally who can substitute another person.

What to do this month

1. List every way people work for you. Employees, agency staff, freelancers, sole-trader contractors, labour-only sub-contractors, people paid through a platform. Ask HR and operations separately, because contractors are often engaged by managers without HR involvement.

2. Sort each group into direct employer, chain or end-user. Where you are the direct employer or you engage the individual yourself, you check them. Where you sit upstream in a chain, you need evidence that the party below you has done proper checks.

3. Fix the contracts. Add a warranty that the supplier checks right to work on every individual who works on your contract, an obligation to keep and produce evidence on request, and an audit right. Review substitution clauses, because a right to send a replacement can bring the extended rules into play.

4. Check before the person starts work. A valid check is done before work begins, using a manual document check, the Home Office online service, or a certified digital identity service provider. The individual must be given a reasonable opportunity to prove their right to work, and you cannot insist on one method.

5. Keep records properly. Keep a copy for the duration of the engagement and two years afterwards, with the date the check was actually done. Securely destroy it after that.

6. Diarise follow-up checks. Where someone has time-limited permission, set a reminder before expiry. Missing the follow-up check removes the statutory excuse for the period afterwards.

Not sure which of your contractors are caught? We review engagement types and supplier contracts for a fixed fee. [Get a right to work compliance review]

The most common mistakes

Why this matters commercially

A penalty of £45,000 or £60,000 per worker multiplies quickly in sectors that rely on supply chains, such as construction, hospitality, cleaning, recruitment and care. A single supplier failing could produce several penalties. Add the reputational damage of a public civil penalty and the possible loss of contracts that require compliance warranties, and a few hours of review now is a sensible spend.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to check the right to work of contractors from 1 October 2026? It depends on the arrangement. If you engage an individual sub-contractor or someone under a worker’s contract, you can be treated as their employer for right to work purposes and should check them. If you buy services from a genuine business for your own use, you generally do not.

What is the penalty for illegal working in 2026? The Home Office Code of Practice sets the starting point at £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach and £60,000 for a repeat breach within three years. Mitigating factors, such as reporting and co-operating with the Home Office, can reduce the amount, and the Home Office guidance describes penalties of up to £60,000 per illegal worker.

How long do I keep right to work records? For the whole of the engagement and two years afterwards. Keep a clear copy of the document, online check or digital check output, plus a record of the date the check was done.

Does a substitution clause create extra risk? Yes. Where a contract lets the individual send someone else to do the work, the business that engages them can be required to check the person who actually does the work. Review these clauses and decide whether you need them.

Who is responsible if my agency fails to check someone? In a standard agency arrangement, the agency is the employer and does the checks. Extended liability applies in specific chain arrangements, so ask your agency for written evidence of compliance and put it in the contract.

Talk to us

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Reviewed 8 October 2026. This article is general guidance and not legal advice.