Immigration: Right to work checks expanded

Authors: Stephen Miller, Heidi Watson, Corinna Harris, Sophie Jackson and Charlotte Stern

The obligation to carry out right to work checks will expand beyond employees to a much wider range of working arrangements from 1 October 2026.

The new regime will extend right to work obligations beyond traditional employment relationships to cover a wider range of working arrangements, including workers engaged under workers’ contracts, individual sub-contractors in relevant contracting chains and service providers matched with clients or customers by online matching services. The reforms are aimed at modern working arrangements, including gig work, zero-hours arrangements, subcontracting and platform-mediated services. In some circumstances, liability may extend beyond the organisation with the direct contractual relationship with the individual.

The Home Office has also published a draft updated Code of Practice setting out how the expanded regime is expected to operate in practice.

While the Home Office will generally seek to identify the organisation with the direct contractual relationship with the worker, liability may extend further up the labour supply chain where the direct employer cannot be identified or prescribed compliance requirements have not been met. However, the government has made clear that genuinely self-employed individuals operating a business on their own account and contracting directly with clients or customers will remain outside the scope of the regime.

Key Action Points for Human Resources and In-house Counsel

Businesses that engage workers, sub-contractors, gig or platform workers, or labour through supply chains will need to understand which arrangements may be caught by the expanded regime and, for those that are, make sure the right checks and contractual protections are in place.

With civil penalties at up to £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach and £60,000 for a repeat breach, businesses should use the period before October 2026 to update their processes and train relevant HR, procurement and other teams.

For more information, please see our detailed update.