Right to work check
A right to work check is the check a UK employer must do before someone starts work, to confirm the person may legally work in the UK. The employer checks a document or the Home Office online service and keeps a record. A correct check protects the employer from a fine if the person turns out to have no right to work.
Every UK employer must check the right to work of every new hire, whatever the role or contract. For frontline employers that hire hundreds of people a year, the check is a fixed step between a yes from the candidate and the first shift. If the check is missing, the hire cannot start.
What does a right to work check protect you from?
The check gives the employer a "statutory excuse". If a worker later turns out to have no right to work, an employer who did the check correctly and on time is protected from a civil penalty. Since February 2024 the penalty is up to £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach and up to £60,000 for a repeat breach.
The check must happen before the person starts work. A check on the first day after the shift began is too late.
How do you do a right to work check?
There are three ways. Which one applies depends on the candidate's documents.
- Manual document check. The candidate shows an original document from the Home Office lists, such as a British or Irish passport. You check it in the presence of the candidate, copy it and record the date of the check.
- Home Office online check. Candidates with an eVisa or other digital immigration status give you a share code. You check their status online with the share code and their date of birth. Keep the result.
- Digital identity check. For British and Irish citizens with a valid passport, a certified identity service provider can check the identity with identity document validation technology (IDVT).
For people with time-limited permission, do a follow-up check before their permission ends.
Who does the check for agency workers?
The organisation that employs the worker does the check. For most temporary workers that is the staffing agency, not the client where the worker does the shifts. Agencies and clients often agree in their contract who keeps the records. See temporary worker for how the agency model works.
Should you ask about the right to work in a screening?
Yes. Ask it early, as a yes or no question: "Do you have the right to work in the UK?" A candidate who answers no learns it in the first minute.
The screening question does not replace the check. It only tells you which candidates to invite. The document check still happens before the start date.
Keep the question neutral. Ask every candidate the same question and do not ask about nationality or where someone was born. A right to work question asked only to some candidates can lead to a discrimination claim.
Right to work question vs right to work check
| Screening question | Right to work check | |
|---|---|---|
| When | At the start of the screening | Before the first day of work |
| What it gives you | The candidate's own answer | A statutory excuse |
| Who does it | The recruiter or the screening | The employer that hires |
| Proof | None | A document copy or an online check result |
Use both. The question saves the recruiter time and the check protects the employer.
How does Ringtime handle the right to work?
Ringtime asks the right to work question in the screening. It does not check documents.
- You add the question to the screening flow and mark it as mandatory. That makes it a knock-out question.
- The AI assistant asks it by phone or WhatsApp, early in the conversation.
- A candidate who answers no goes to recruiter review. The assistant never rejects a candidate by itself.
- The answer lands in the Ringtime web app and in your applicant tracking system (ATS), next to the other answers.
- Your team does the right to work check itself, before the start date.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Check the Home Office employer's guide to right to work checks for your own process.
To ask the must-have questions before anyone books an interview, see how Ringtime screens candidates.
