Right to Work Checks: Essential 2025 Updates for Employers
In This Article
1. Right to Work Checks: 2025 Guidance Overview
2. Key Updates in the Right to Work Checks Guidance
3. Transition to eVisas: Decommissioning of Biometric Cards
4. Annex A Updated List of Acceptable Documents for Manual Right to Work Checks
5. Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) Scheme: Key Changes
6. Removal of COVID-19 Temporary Adjusted Checks
7. Conducting Right to Work Checks: Key Procedures for Employers
8. Three-Step Process for Manual Right to Work Checks
9. Using Digital Identity Verification for Right to Work Checks
10. Home Office Online Check
11. Contact Our Immigration Barristers
12. Frequently Asked Questions
13. Glossary
1. Right to Work Checks: 2025 Guidance Overview
The Home Office’s updated Right to Work Check guidance, published on 12 February 2025, introduces important changes that affect all checks conducted from this date onwards.
Employers, including Human Resource professionals, should familiarise themselves with the guidance in order to carry out the correct checks on all prospective employees and thereby establish a statutory excuse against liability for a penalty. Failure to conduct proper checks could result in significant fines and enforcement action.
This article highlights the key updates and outlines the correct procedures for conducting Right to Work checks effectively.
2. Key Updates in the Right to Work Checks Guidance
The latest Home Office guidance introduces several important changes to right to work checks, including:
- Consolidating the guidance for clarity and consistency;
- The decommissioning of biometric cards (BRPs) and transitioning to eVisas;
- Updates to the list of acceptable documents for manual checks;
- Updates to employment rules for Ukrainian nationals;
- The removal of COVID-19 adjusted checks introduced during the pandemic.
3. Transition to eVisas: Decommissioning of Biometric Cards
Individuals are encouraged to create a UKVI account and access their eVisa to prove their right to work in the UK as BRPs are no longer issued by the Home Office.
4. Annex A Updated List of Acceptable Documents for Manual Right to Work Checks
The 2025 Right to Work Checks guidance introduces key updates to the list of acceptable documents for manual verification.
In the updated guidance, a clipped British or Irish passport is considered a cancelled document and therefore not acceptable proof of right to work. This can be identified by the corners of certain pages in the passport being cut/removed.
Further, a birth certificate issued in the UK, whether short or long, is acceptable when it is accompanied by an official document showing the name and national insurance number issued by a government agency or a previous employer.
5. Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) Scheme: Key Changes
The 2025 guidance introduces the Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) Scheme, effective 4 February 2025. Applications made after 19 February 2024 were granted 18 months permission to remain in the UK rather than three years. The UPE scheme allows Ukrainian nationals and their eligible family members to apply for 18 months further permission to remain in the UK. Refer to our article Ukraine Visa Schemes: Key Updates and Changes for further details.
6. Removal of COVID-19 Temporary Adjusted Checks
The temporary adjusted checks section was removed from the 2025 Right to Work Check Guidance. All right to work checks must now follow standard procedures, including manual document verification, digital identity verification, or Home Office online checks.
7. Conducting Right to Work Checks: Key Procedures for Employers
Prior to the employee starting work, a right to work check must be conducted. There are different types of checks, depending on the individual’s nationality and the type of permission they have to work in the UK.
Types of right to work checks include:
- Manual checks
- Checks using IDVT
- Home Office online checks.
An individual with an eVisa is only able to use the Home Office online service to evidence their right to work as physical immigration documents are no longer issued. Those with BRP expired on 31 December 2024 have been encouraged to create a UKVI account and access eVisa.
Where an individual has an outstanding application, administrative review or appeal, they are unlikely to be able to provide evidence showing that. You can use the Employer Checking Service to establish a statutory excuse. You will be issued with a Positive Verification Notice confirming the individual is allowed to carry out the type of work.
The Home Office guidance provides a useful reminder for a sponsor that “Where the worker is not your direct employee (for example, if they’re self-employed), you are not required to establish a statutory excuse. However, you must still carry out these checks (and retain evidence you have done so) if you are a sponsor licence holder and are sponsoring the worker to ensure compliance with your sponsor duties.”
If an employee has a time-limited permission to work in the UK, the employer must conduct follow-up checks prior to the end of their permission.
The right of work checks must be stored for the duration of the employment and for two years afterwards.
8. Three-Step Process for Manual Right to Work Checks
There are three steps to take when conducting a manual check. The first step is to obtain a physical copy of the original document from either List A or B in Annex A. The next step is to check the photographs and the date of birth are consistent as well as the expiry date of the permission to be in the UK, in the presence of the holder or via a live video link. The third step is to take a copy, record the date of the check and retain it securely.
9. Using Digital Identity Verification for Right to Work Checks
Employers can use Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT) via IDSP’s service to carry out checks on British and Irish citizens with valid passports.
This process involves obtaining evidence and checking the identity of the prospective employee. The guidance states that you can rely on this as a statutory excuse “… It is your responsibility to obtain evidence of the IDVT check from the IDSP. You will only have a statutory excuse if you reasonably believe that the IDSP has carried out their checks in accordance with this guidance.”
As an IDSP can carry out a range of levels of confidence, the Home Office recommends that checks satisfy a minimum of Medium Level of Confidence. You must check that the results from the IDVT check are consistent with the individual in front of you, whether in person or by video call.
10. Home Office Online Check
Individuals using the Home Office online check can generate a share code for the employers to conduct a check. Employers can access the service at Check a job applicant’s right to work: use their share code by entering the share code and the individual’s date of birth.
You must check that the photograph is of the individual presenting to you in person or by video call and store the profile page, which confirms the individual’s right to work and the date the check was conducted.
11. Contact Our Immigration Barristers
For expert advice and assistance in relation to Right to Work Checks, or other immigration matters, contact our immigration barristers in London on 0203 617 9173 or via the enquiry form below.
