Following the Home Office’s recent updates to its sponsor guidance in March, further changes were introduced on 8 April, expanding the scope of right-to-work checks (“RTW”).
All employers in the UK have a responsibility to undertake right-to-work checks before employing someone, in order to prevent illegal working. The Home Office’s guidance previously stated that an employer “must check that any worker [they] wish to employ or sponsor (including a worker who is not [their] direct employee), has permission to enter or stay in the UK and can do the work in question before they start working.” A right to work check can be carried out either manually, by checking and copying the employee’s passport or Immigration Status Document, or by using the Home Office’s online right to work service (for non-British nationals).
This guidance was updated on 8 April, requiring employers to carry out additional right-to-work checks on “any worker [they] otherwise wish to employ or directly engage.” While ‘direct engagement’ has not been specifically defined, this suggests a wide expansion to the scope of right-to-work checks, beyond sponsored and employed workers. Read broadly, anyone ‘directly engaged’ by a company could include contractors, partners and self-employed individuals. However, we expect further guidance on the type of workers that are captured by this category, particularly as other sections of the sponsor guidance do not use this term consistently, and this addition was introduced without notice.
These changes come in the wake of Section 48 of The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025, which aims to suppress illegal working by expanding the RTW regime. Although this section of the Act is not yet in force, it outlines that specific types of non-employees will need to have their right to work checked, including casual workers, agency workers, subcontractors and so-called gig economy workers. This will impose a significant administrative burden on employers, as the pool of workers requiring right-to-work checks will become much larger.
The addition of right-to-work checks for those ‘directly engaged’ by a company indicates what may be required under the expanded illegal working regime, though primary legislation is still required to put these provisions into effect. Nevertheless, it is important that employers comply with this guidance, as failure to carry out the correct checks amounts to a breach of an employer’s sponsor duties, which could lead to sponsor licence revocation and even a civil penalty under illegal working legislation.
While further clarification from the Home Office is required, employers should ensure that they are prepared for these changes and compliant with current guidance by reviewing their onboarding policies and RTW practices.
The consultation on proposed amendments to the Home Office code of practice for employers is open until 11:59 pm on 29 April 2026. Any comments on these proposals must be emailed to righttorentandrighttowork@homeoffice.gov.uk before this deadline.
