You’ve finally found the right person for the job and you are eager for them to start. Before they do, however, you need to ensure that they have the right to work in the UK. These checks have developed over the years, from simple manual checks of physical documents, to electronic verification via a government portal; but which is the right check for this particular prospective employee? It can be confusing – in this article we hope to bring some clarity to the process.
An employer is faced with a choice of one of the following checks before an employee starts work:
- A manual right to work check.
- An online right to work check via a Home Office portal.
- A right to work check using identity document verification technology (IDVT) via the services of an identity services provider (IDSP).
If the employer does the check correctly, they will have a statutory excuse against a potential civil penalty if it is later found that the worker does not have permission to work in the UK. It is important to remember that many statutory excuses are time limited. In line with visa validity, so robust diary systems are a must.
