Right to Work checks are changing from 1 October 2026: What should employers be doing now?
From 1 October 2026, the scope of the Right to Work regime is set to expand significantly. The changes are particularly important for businesses that engage individuals outside a traditional employer-employee relationship, or which rely on contractors, subcontractors, outsourced service providers or online platforms.
The Home Office published an updated draft Employer’s Guide on 11 September 2026, intended to come into force on 1 October 2026. The reforms expand the Right to Work Scheme beyond conventional employees and introduce potential liability further up certain contractual chains.
For businesses, the key practical message is that Right to Work compliance can no longer be considered solely as an HR onboarding issue. Businesses will need to look more broadly at how they engage individuals, how their supply chains operate and, importantly, who is actually carrying out work on their behalf.
A quick reminder: What is a Right to Work check?
A prescribed Right to Work check should be undertaken before work starts. When conducted correctly, the check provides a statutory excuse against a civil penalty if the individual is subsequently found to be working illegally.
Depending on the individual’s circumstances, the prescribed process may involve a manual document check, the Home Office online service or an eligible digital verification service provider (DVSP). Employers should also check that the individual is permitted to undertake the particular work in question, including any applicable restrictions.
The important point is that compliance is not simply about asking to “see a visa”. The objective is to complete the correct prescribed check and retain appropriate evidence of it.
What is changing?
One of the most significant changes from 1 October is the proposed expansion of the regime beyond conventional employees.
The Scheme is set to extend to certain arrangements involving:
- workers engaged under a worker’s contract;
- individual subcontractors within contractual chains; and
- certain online matching services which connect individual service providers with clients or customers.
For businesses which have historically regarded these arrangements as sitting outside the traditional Right to Work framework, this warrants careful attention.
Look beyond your immediate workforce
Perhaps the most important development for businesses is the introduction of extended liability.
Under the new regime, potential exposure may extend further up a contractual chain, rather than resting only with the organisation that has a direct relationship with the individual performing the work.
The arrangements that businesses should be considering include contracting chains, online matching arrangements and substitution provisions.
Take a relatively straightforward outsourcing arrangement:
ClientCo → ServiceCo → individual worker/subcontractor
Historically, ClientCo may have assumed that Right to Work compliance was entirely a matter for ServiceCo. Under the extended liability provisions, businesses will need to look more carefully at the contractual structure and arrangements in practice before reaching that conclusion.
A useful question for businesses to ask is therefore:
Do we know who is actually performing the work under our contracts?
This is particularly relevant where subcontracting or substitution is permitted.
Don’t assume outsourcing the check outsources the liability
Digital Right to Work checking is also increasingly important. Registered Right to Work DVSPs may be used in prescribed circumstances, including for eligible British and Irish passport or passport card checks.
However, using a third-party provider does not automatically transfer responsibility away from the business. Employers still need to understand what has been checked and ensure that the required evidence is retained.
Businesses should therefore review not only whether they use a digital provider, but also how that process fits within their wider Right to Work compliance framework.
Avoid creating a discrimination problem
Businesses should also ensure that increased scrutiny of Right to Work compliance does not inadvertently result in discriminatory recruitment practices.
Processes should be applied consistently. Businesses should not select individuals for checks because of nationality, race, appearance or assumed immigration status, and should not insist on one method of demonstrating a Right to Work where another prescribed route is available.
One practical example is the use of share codes. A share code is an online code generated by an individual that allows an employer to access their Home Office immigration record and confirm their right to work in the UK. The employer uses the share code, together with the individual’s date of birth, to carry out an online right to work check. Businesses should not design their recruitment process on the assumption that everyone will be able to provide a share code. British and Irish citizens ordinarily use eligible original documents or an appropriate digital verification service instead.
Does everyone need a new check on 1 October?
No. Businesses should avoid unnecessary repeat checking of their entire existing workforce.
The relevant questions will instead include whether a new engagement is commencing, whether an existing individual’s repeat check falls due, or whether an arrangement falls within the expanded regime from 1 October.
This distinction should help businesses focus their compliance resources on the areas where the changes genuinely create new risk.
Five practical steps to take now
With 1 October approaching, businesses should consider the following:
1. Map your workforce
Don’t stop at employees. Identify how the organisation uses workers, individual contractors, subcontractors, agency labour, outsourced services, online platforms and arrangements which permit substitutes.
2. Map your contracts
Review agreements for personal service requirements, substitution rights, subcontracting provisions, staffing obligations and supply-chain arrangements. Consider whether online matching or platform arrangements are used anywhere within the business.
3. Audit your Right to Work processes
Consider who conducts checks, which checking method is used, what evidence is retained, where it is stored and who is responsible for monitoring expiry dates. Businesses should also understand when the Employer Checking Service may be required.
4. Review supplier arrangements
Where individuals are supplied through third parties, consider whether contractual arrangements adequately deal with Right to Work compliance. This may include checking obligations, evidence and assurance requirements, notification provisions, audit cooperation, warranties, indemnities and appropriate obligations flowing down to subcontractors.
5. Train the people who need to know
The changes should not be viewed as relevant only to HR. Recruitment, onboarding, procurement, compliance, operational teams and hiring managers may all need to understand how the revised regime affects their role.
The key takeaway
The most significant shift on 1 October is one of scope. Right to Work compliance is becoming relevant to a wider range of working and contractual arrangements.
Businesses should therefore look beyond their payroll and ask three practical questions:
Who is actually working for us or providing services? Who engages them? And are we satisfied that the appropriate Right to Work checks and contractual protections are in place?
Taking the opportunity now to map those arrangements and review existing processes should put businesses in a stronger position when the new regime takes effect.
How we can help
Forsters can help employers assess how the reforms affect their workforce and contractual arrangements, review and strengthen existing Right to Work processes and supplier arrangements, and provide tailored Right to Work training for HR, recruitment, procurement, compliance and operational teams.
