UK. Home Office employer's guide, 26 June 2025 edition
Which right to work check do you need?
There are three prescribed checks, and doing the right one before employment starts gives you a statutory excuse against a civil penalty of up to £60,000 per illegal worker: a manual document check, a Home Office online check using the worker's share code, or a digital verification service for British and Irish passport holders. Answer a few questions to see which applies to this hire and what to keep on file.
Question 1
What are you trying to do?
This wizard is written for employers. It follows the Home Office employer's guide, which applies to staff employed under a contract of employment, service or apprenticeship.
Scope of this checker
- The three prescribed checks: manual documents, Home Office online, digital verification service
- Which route is open for British and Irish citizens, and which is not
- eVisas, share codes and why physical BRPs are no longer acceptable
- Sponsored workers, students with term-time hour limits, and EU Settlement Scheme status
- When to use the Home Office Employer Checking Service
- Follow-up checks and how long to keep the evidence
- Based on the Home Office employer's guide to right to work checks (26 June 2025 edition, updated 16 July 2026)
Right to Work Wizard is an independent guide operated by Ellul Solutions Ltd. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Home Office, UK Visas and Immigration or any government body, and nothing here is legal or immigration advice. Immigration rules and Home Office guidance change: verify the current position in the employer's guide linked in our sources before you rely on an outcome, and take advice on anything unusual. If you ask us to, we will pass your details to a right to work check provider or adviser, who may pay us a fee; you pay nothing and are under no obligation.
Which right to work check applies, by who you are hiring
Last updated
The three prescribed checks mapped to the situations employers actually meet, with what you must retain in each case. This is the same logic the wizard applies.
Mapped from the Home Office employer's guide to right to work checks (26 June 2025 accessible edition, page updated 16 July 2026) and the gov.uk pages on checking a job applicant's right to work and penalties for employing illegal workers, read on the updated date above. Where the guide restricts a route to a category of person, that restriction is reproduced rather than generalised. Retention in every row is the duration of employment plus two years, then secure destruction.
| Who you are hiring | Check that gives a statutory excuse | Follow-up needed? |
|---|---|---|
| British or Irish citizen with a valid passport or Irish passport card | Manual List A check, or a certified digital verification service | No |
| British citizen with no current passport | Manual List A check using the alternative documents, for example a birth certificate with official evidence of a National Insurance number | No |
| Anyone with an eVisa (including former BRP and BRC holders) | Home Office online check using their right to work share code | Only if the permission is time-limited |
| EU Settlement Scheme settled status | Home Office online check using their share code | No |
| EU Settlement Scheme pre-settled status | Home Office online check using their share code | Yes, on or before expiry |
| Student with a term-time hour limit | Home Office online check, plus obtain and retain term and vacation dates from the education provider | Yes, on or before expiry |
| Sponsored worker on your own licence | Home Office online check, alongside your separate sponsor record-keeping duties | Yes, on or before expiry |
| Outstanding application, appeal or administrative review, Certificate of Application or Application Registration Card | Employer Checking Service, Positive Verification Notice | Yes, the notice gives a six-month excuse |
| EU, EEA or Swiss employee already working for you who came to the UK before 1 July 2021 | No check required, and no retrospective check expected | No |
- An employer who does not carry out the correct right to work check can face a civil penalty of up to £60,000 for each illegal worker (gov.uk, penalties for employing illegal workers).
- A Home Office right to work share code is 9 characters long, begins with the letter W, and is valid for 90 calendar days; codes beginning R or S are for other services and cannot be used for a right to work check.
- Physical biometric residence permits and cards are no longer acceptable evidence of the right to work: gov.uk tells employers to ask for a share code instead.
- Right to work check evidence must be kept for the duration of the person's employment and a further two years after they stop working for you, then securely destroyed.
Cite this page
“Which right to work check applies, by who you are hiring”, Right to Work Wizard, https://righttoworkwizard.co.uk/ (updated 2026-08-14). Mapped from the Home Office employer's guide to right to work checks (26 June 2025 accessible edition, page updated 16 July 2026) and the gov.uk pages on checking a job applicant's right to work and penalties for employing illegal workers, read on the updated date above. Where the guide restricts a route to a category of person, that restriction is reproduced rather than generalised. Retention in every row is the duration of employment plus two years, then secure destruction.
Need right to work checks handled properly?
We will introduce you to a right to work check provider or immigration compliance adviser who can run checks for you, audit the files you already hold, or advise on sponsorship.
The detail
Sourced, dated, kept current.
- Right to work check documents: List A and List B explained
Which documents you can accept for a right to work check, what List A and List B mean for your statutory excuse, and the three steps: obtain, check, copy.
- Right to work share code: how the Home Office online check works
How a right to work share code works, why it must begin with W, why 90 days matters, and how to run the Home Office online check so it gives you a statutory excuse.
- Right to work check with a BRP: why it no longer counts
Biometric residence permits and cards are no longer acceptable evidence for a right to work check. What replaced them, what to ask candidates for, and what to fix.
- Right to work check cost: what is free and what you pay for
The Home Office online right to work check is free. What you may pay for is a digital verification service, an audit or advice. What drives those prices, and what to ask.
The questions we get
What are the three types of right to work check?
A manual document check using original documents from List A or List B; a Home Office online check using the worker's share code, which is for people who are not British or Irish citizens; and a check through a certified digital verification service, which the employer's guide restricts to British and Irish citizens holding a valid passport or Irish passport card. Any of the three, done correctly before employment starts, gives a statutory excuse.
What is a statutory excuse?
It is the employer's defence against liability for a civil penalty. The Home Office employer's guide describes conducting the prescribed check as establishing a statutory excuse against liability for a penalty: if you carried out the check correctly and someone is later found not to have the right to work, you will not have to pay the penalty.
What is the maximum civil penalty for employing an illegal worker?
Up to £60,000 for each illegal worker, per gov.uk's page on penalties for employing illegal workers. gov.uk also states that you will not have to pay the civil penalty if you can show you made the correct right to work checks. Separately, knowingly employing someone without the right to work is a criminal offence carrying up to five years' imprisonment and an unlimited fine.
Can I check a British citizen's right to work online?
No. British and Irish citizens cannot get a Home Office share code, so the online service is not available for them. Check their original documents yourself, or use a certified digital verification service if they hold a valid passport or Irish passport card.
When does the check have to be done?
Before employment commences. The statutory excuse depends on a correct check made before the person starts work, so a check completed after the first shift does not cover that shift. Where permission is time-limited, a follow-up check should take place on or before the date the permission ends.
Do I need to re-check existing EU employees?
No. gov.uk states that you do not need to do checks for existing employees from the EU, EEA or Switzerland who came to the UK before 1 July 2021. Re-checking historic hires selectively by nationality also creates a discrimination risk.
Can a recruitment agency do the check for us?
Not for a manual document check. The guide states that other than where you use a certified provider for British and Irish passport holders, you cannot establish a statutory excuse if the check is performed by a third party such as a recruitment agency or a professional adviser. The liability stays with the employer either way.
Check before the first shift, not after
One minute in the wizard against a civil penalty of up to £60,000 per illegal worker.
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