Right to Work Checks
The Home Office updated its right to work guidance on 1 October 2026. If your business uses subcontractors or operates within a supply chain, this update is relevant to you - and it's bigger than most employers have clocked yet.
Here's what's changed, and what you need to do about it.
What's changed?
Right to work checks have always applied to your direct employees. That hasn't changed. What's new is the introduction of extended liability - which means in certain contractual arrangements, responsibility for illegal working can reach beyond the employer who has the direct relationship with the worker.
This isn't a blanket rule that applies to every supplier or contractor you use. It applies in specific circumstances, and it's worth understanding exactly when.
When does extended liability for right to work checks apply?
The guidance sets out three scenarios where extended liability may come into play:
Where your business is contracted to deliver work or services to a third party, and you subcontract some or all of that work through a chain of contracts - the construction company that wins a contract and then brings in subbies to do the groundwork, for example.
Where an online matching service connects a service provider with a client, and the service provider carries out the work directly under that contract.
Where a contract allows an individual to substitute their work - so someone other than the person named in the contract ends up doing the job.
What it does not cover is straightforward purchasing of goods or services for your own internal operations. If you buy stationery, hire a cleaner, or bring in an accountant, that's not in scope. The extended liability provisions are aimed at businesses operating within layered subcontracting arrangements, not every commercial relationship you have.
So what do you need to do?
For your direct team
Check before employment starts - not on day one, before. After the offer is accepted and before anyone sets foot through the door.
Keep copies of all documents somewhere secure and findable. A shared drive with restricted access works. A drawer nobody can locate does not.
Set calendar reminders for time-limited permissions. Visas and Biometric Residence Permits have expiry dates that creep up fast. If you use Breathe HR, the system tracks this for you.
If you're using the online checking service for someone with a share code, save a screenshot of the result and the date you ran it. That's your statutory excuse if anything is ever questioned.
Make right to work checks a fixed part of your onboarding process. Not an afterthought. Not something that gets done when someone remembers.
For your contractors and suppliers
If your business operates within a subcontracting arrangement - you're delivering work to a client and bringing in others to help fulfil it - you need to think carefully about right to work in that chain.
Before any work begins, get written confirmation that the individual carrying out the work has the right to work in the UK. An email from the contractor is a starting point, but build a standard form into your onboarding process so it's consistent.
For higher-risk arrangements - labour-intensive sectors, layered subcontracting, umbrella company structures - consider going further and requesting copies of the actual documents rather than relying on a contractor's written confirmation alone.
Review any existing arrangements that fall within scope. If someone is already delivering work for you through a relevant contractual chain, now is the time to get that confirmation in writing.
Build right to work requirements into your standard contracts going forward. Make it a contractual requirement, not an informal ask.
Audit and oversight
Create a simple register covering all workers and any contractors within scope - with a column for right to work status and the date it was confirmed. A spreadsheet works fine.
Diarise an annual review. Right to work isn't a tick-once exercise. Permissions expire, supply chains shift, and arrangements change.
Assign ownership. Someone in your business needs to be responsible for this. If it's everyone's job, it's nobody's job.
If you use an HR system, check whether it has a right to work tracking function. Many do - including Breathe HR - and it removes the manual reminder burden entirely.
The bottom line
For most SMEs, the day-to-day right to work process for your direct team hasn't changed.
What has changed is the potential for liability to extend into your supply chain if you're operating in subcontracting arrangements. If that applies to your business, get your processes in order now - before the Home Office comes looking.
Not sure whether this applies to you or where to start? Get in touch and we'll help you work it out. lilachr.co.uk/contact
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