Significant Right to Work changes officially came into force on 1 October 2026. They widen the scope of Right to Work responsibilities beyond traditional employees and introduce some new provisions.
If your organisation uses casual workers, subcontractors, agencies, or other third parties to provide people to carry out work, now’s the time to make sure your arrangements are compliant.
What's changed in the Right to Work rules?
Right to Work checks now cover more working arrangements
The Right to Work Scheme has been expanded beyond employees working under a traditional contract of employment. From 1 October, the requirements also extend to individuals who work:
- under a worker’s contract
- as an individual subcontractor
- through an online matching service (one that provides individual service providers to potential clients or customers)
That means you’ll need to look beyond your employees and consider the wider range of people you engage to carry out work or provide services.
It’s worth knowing that the label you give an arrangement won’t decide whether it’s covered—what matters is how it works in practice. Civil penalties for these newly covered groups apply to engagements that started on or after 1 October 2026.
New extended liability provisions
Responsibility for Right to Work checks can now, in some cases, extend further up the contractual chain. This applies when:
- you’re contracted to provide work or services to a client and use another business’s people to deliver it
- an online matching service connects a service provider with a customer
- someone’s contract lets them send a substitute in their place
The business directly engaging the worker still carries out the check, and the Home Office will look to it first. But if it can’t identify that business, and you haven’t met the prescribed requirements, liability may pass up the chain to you. It doesn’t apply to everything, though—agency workers used in your own day-to-day operations stay the agency’s responsibility.
How to protect your organisation
Where extended liability applies, you must have these in place before the work starts to establish a statutory excuse:
- A written statement: contract terms requiring your supplier to carry out prescribed checks, get your consent before subcontracting further, allow audits, accept enforcement action, and cooperate with any Home Office investigation.
- Substitution controls: processes to check every substitute before they start work.
- Identity verification: proportionate systems to confirm the person doing the work is the person who was checked.
The good news is that these only apply to contracts entered into on or after 1 October 2026. But, be aware that contract terms alone won’t be enough, so keep audit records and supplier assurances to show they’re working in practice.
Changes to digital Right to Work checks
There are also stronger requirements around digital verification.
If you choose to use a digital provider to carry out a prescribed digital Right to Work check, it must meet the required certification and registration requirements for you to get a statutory excuse (your legal defence against a civil penalty if someone is found to be working illegally).
In practice, that means using a Right to Work digital verification service provider (RtW DVSP). That’s a provider registered with the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA) and specifically permitted to carry out Right to Work checks. You remain responsible for the check, even when a provider carries it out for you.
If you use a third party for digital checks, find out which RtW DVSP is being used and whether it meets the required standard. If you buy digital checks through a screening agency that isn’t certified itself, it must clearly tell you which registered provider it’s using. Digital checks are optional, so you’ll still need to offer a manual alternative to anyone who’d rather not use one.
What should you do now?
The new rules are in force, so we recommend reviewing your arrangements now if you haven’t already. In particular:
- Identify everyone carrying out work for your organisation who isn’t employed under a standard employment contract.
- Review worker, casual, and individual subcontractor arrangements to see whether they now fall within the Right to Work Scheme.
- Complete the appropriate check before work starts for any new engagement covered by the expanded scheme.
- Review agency, subcontracting, and other labour supply contracts to understand whether the new extended liability provisions could apply.
- Make sure contracts include appropriate Right to Work obligations, audit provisions, and controls over further subcontracting where needed.
- Check that any digital verification provider you use meets the new requirements.
- Keep evidence of checks securely for the length of the engagement and for two years afterwards, in line with the Right to Work rules.
Remember that genuinely self-employed people running an independent business may fall outside the scheme—the nature of the arrangement is what matters.
Get help with the Right to Work changes
If you’re unsure and would like some guidance, our HR experts are happy to talk things through, or read the government’s Employer’s guide to right to work checks.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q. When did the Right to Work changes come into force?
A. The right to Work changes came into effect on 1 October 2026.
Q. Who's now covered by Right to Work checks?
A. As well as employees, the scheme now covers people engaged under a worker's contract, individual subcontractors and individuals working through online matching services.
Q. Do I need to check self-employed contractors?
A. Generally not, if they're genuinely running their own independent business (in their own name or through their own company) and contracting directly with clients.
Q. Does extended liability apply if I use agency workers?
A. Not when they're working in your own day-to-day operations, as the agency stays responsible. It can apply when you're contracted to provide work to a client and use other businesses' people to deliver it.
Q. Do I have to use digital Right to Work checks?
A. No, they're optional. If you do use them, the provider must be registered with OfDIA and permitted to carry out Right to Work checks.
Q. How long should I keep Right to Work records?
A. For the length of the engagement and for two years afterwards. After that, they should be securely destroyed.
