Right to work checks: who do you need to check now?
Right to work checks have traditionally been an employee onboarding issue. From 1 October 2026, HR needs to cast the net more widely.
Changes to the illegal working regime have extended right to work obligations beyond traditional employment relationships. Depending on the arrangement, businesses may now need to carry out checks on individuals they might previously have regarded as outside the process altogether.
That potentially includes:
- workers who are not employees;
- casual and zero-hours workers;
- individual contractors;
- agency workers and others supplied through contractual chains; and
- some gig economy and platform-based service providers.
Importantly, this does not mean that someone becomes an employee or worker for wider employment law purposes. The right to work regime has its own definitions and deliberately casts a wider net.
Nor does every self-employed person now need a right to work check.
The label attached to the relationship is not decisive, but genuinely independent businesses providing services to their customers will generally remain outside the scheme. The Home Office guidance gives the examples of an independent plumber providing services to members of the public and a graphic designer contracting through their own personal service company.
What should you do now?
Start by mapping the workforce beyond the payroll.
Look at consultants, contractors, casual staff, agency arrangements and anyone else personally providing work or services. Establish which arrangements now fall within the regime, who is responsible for carrying out the check and whether your onboarding processes prevent someone starting work before it has been completed.
The mechanics of right to work checks have not fundamentally changed. What has changed is the group of people who may need one. That makes identifying who needs to be checked every bit as important as knowing how to check them.