Checks & records
What is a right to work check?
A right to work check confirms that someone is permitted to do the work in question in the UK. Carried out correctly before work starts, it provides a statutory excuse against a civil penalty for illegal working.
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<img src="https://agencyoptix.co.uk/glossary/right-to-work-check/diagram.svg" alt="right to work check — diagram from AgencyOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
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<a href="https://agencyoptix.co.uk/glossary/right-to-work-check">What is a right to work check?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://agencyoptix.co.uk">AgencyOptix</a>
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</figure>The protection depends on doing it properly and in time. A check done after work began, or done in a way that does not follow the prescribed process, does not establish the excuse even where the person genuinely has the right to work.
There are different routes depending on the documents a person holds, including online checks against a share code and, for some, manual document checks. Using the wrong route for the person in front of you is a common failure.
Some permissions are time-limited, which creates a follow-up check obligation. Diarising those dates is the whole of the ongoing compliance burden, and missing one removes the excuse from that date onwards.
What goes wrong in practice
- Checks carried out after the first shift, which is too late for the statutory excuse.
- Copies retained without the date the check was made recorded.
- Follow-up checks missed when a time-limited permission expires mid-assignment.
- The wrong check route used for the documents held.