Update, 5 October 2026: The changes discussed in this article came into force on 1 October 2026, when the Home Office also published its final employer's guide to right to work checks. The article was written on 21 September, before the changes took effect, and refers to 1 October as a future date.
Right-to-work checks are changing from 1 October 2026.
For many businesses, the important change is not how the check itself is carried out. It is who may now need to be checked.
The Right to Work Scheme is being extended beyond traditional employees to cover a wider range of working arrangements, including certain workers, individual subcontractors and people providing services through online matching platforms.
The Home Office republished its draft employer guidance on 11 September following feedback on an earlier July version. The new guidance comes into force on 1 October 2026.
Businesses that use flexible labour, subcontractors or platform workers should look at their arrangements before then.
What is the current position?
Employers already have a legal duty to prevent illegal working.
A prescribed right-to-work check carried out before employment starts can give an employer a statutory excuse against a civil penalty if it later turns out that the person did not have permission to undertake the work.
The check must be carried out correctly. Simply asking someone whether they have the right to work, taking a copy of a document or relying on a recruitment agency is not necessarily enough.
Depending on the person's immigration status and nationality, the appropriate check may involve the Home Office online service, an approved digital verification service, a manual document check or the Employer Checking Service.
That remains important after 1 October.
What changes is the reach of the scheme.
The scheme is moving beyond employees
From 1 October, the legislation extends right-to-work responsibilities to certain arrangements outside a conventional contract of employment.
The Home Office guidance includes people engaged under a worker's contract, individual subcontractors and certain service providers operating through online matching services.
This matters because many businesses have historically divided their workforce into employees and everyone else.
That distinction will no longer answer the right-to-work question.
A person described in a contract as self-employed or a contractor may still fall within the scheme depending on how the arrangement actually operates.
The Home Office guidance says businesses should consider the substance of the arrangement, not simply the label used in the contract.
Genuine independent businesses are different
The changes do not mean that every self-employed person providing a service to a business must undergo a right-to-work check.
The Home Office gives the example of a genuinely self-employed plumber who advertises to the public, works for multiple customers and operates an independent business. A householder engaging that plumber is not required to conduct a right-to-work check.
It gives another example of a graphic designer providing services through their own personal service company. Where the client company contracts with the company for the provision of services, rather than engaging the individual personally, the client is outside the scheme on the facts of that example.
The difficulty will be the arrangements that sit between these obvious examples.
Businesses will need to consider who actually provides the work, who engages or supplies the individual, who controls the arrangement, whether personal service is required and whether substitution is permitted.
Calling somebody a contractor will not decide the issue.
Supply chains also need attention
The October changes also introduce extended liability in certain contractual arrangements.
This can affect businesses where one organisation contracts to provide work or services and another organisation supplies the individuals who actually perform them.
There are also provisions dealing with online matching services and arrangements allowing one individual to substitute another person to perform the work.
For businesses using labour supplied through other organisations, the question should therefore be wider than:
“Are they our employee?”
They need to understand the contractual chain through which the individual is working.
You can delegate the check, but not necessarily the liability
The revised September guidance provides further clarification about delegation.
A business may arrange for someone acting on its behalf to conduct a right-to-work check.
That does not mean the business can simply transfer responsibility for getting it wrong.
The Home Office guidance makes clear that where responsibility for a check is delegated, the employer can remain liable for a civil penalty if an individual is found to be working illegally and the prescribed check was not completed.
This is particularly important where recruitment, onboarding or HR administration is handled by another member of staff or an external provider.
The business should know what process is actually being followed.
The financial consequences are substantial
The maximum civil penalty for employing an illegal worker is currently £45,000 per worker for a first breach and £60,000 per worker for a repeat breach.
There can be other consequences.
A civil penalty may affect an employer's ability to sponsor migrant workers. Serious cases can result in criminal proceedings. Businesses can also face disruption, reputational damage and, in certain circumstances, closure or licensing consequences.
The Home Office continues to publish details of employers that receive illegal-working civil penalties.
Right-to-work compliance should therefore be treated as part of workforce risk management, not simply as an HR filing exercise.
What about sponsored workers?
Sponsor licence holders have an additional reason to get this right.
Sponsors must check and retain evidence of the immigration status of the workers they sponsor as part of their sponsor duties, whether or not the particular working arrangement falls within the wider Right to Work Scheme.
A business should not confuse its sponsor duties with its general right-to-work obligations.
They overlap, but they are not the same thing.
What should businesses do before 1 October?
Start by identifying how people actually work for the business.
Look beyond the payroll.
Review employees, workers, agency arrangements, individual subcontractors and any platforms or intermediaries through which individuals provide services.
Then establish which arrangements will fall within the extended scheme from 1 October.
Businesses should also check their existing right-to-work process.
Who carries out the check? Which method is used? Is the evidence retained? Are expiry dates monitored where somebody has time-limited permission? What happens when an employee says they have made an immigration application but cannot produce a new share code?
There should be an answer to each of those questions before there is a Home Office compliance problem.
The new rules do not require businesses to treat every contractor as an employee.
They do require businesses to understand the people working for them and the legal arrangements through which that work is being provided.
Flashpoint Legal
Flashpoint Legal advises businesses on right-to-work compliance, sponsor licences and the employment of overseas workers.
We can review your existing right-to-work procedures and workforce arrangements against the rules that took effect on 1 October 2026.
If your business uses employees, workers, subcontractors or flexible labour and you are unsure how the October changes affect you, contact Flashpoint Legal to arrange a compliance review.
Important: This article is for general information and is not legal advice. The Home Office guidance discussed above came into force on 1 October 2026. Businesses should take advice on their particular workforce and contractual arrangements.