Right to work checklist for recruitment agencies after 1 October 2026

In brief. Since 1 October 2026 the Right to Work Scheme covers people engaged under a worker’s contract, individual sub-contractors and people supplied through an online matching service, as well as employees, for engagements that began on or after that date. The Home Office’s own example names an employment business supplying temporary workers on contracts for services as the employer for the Scheme, responsible for the check. The check is done before the first day or the first shift, in one of three prescribed ways, the dated copy is kept for the engagement and two years after it, and done properly it gives the agency a statutory excuse against a civil penalty that starts at £45,000 for each illegal worker for a first breach and £60,000 for a repeat within three years. Where an agency has contracted to deliver a service rather than to supply workers, five written terms have to be in its contract with any business whose people do the work. The checklist below is the Home Office’s rules in the order an agency meets them. Source, the employer’s guide to right to work checks in force from 1 October 2026 and the code of practice on preventing illegal working, gov.uk.

1. Who your agency must check

Your own staff, every consultant, resourcer and administrator, before day one.
Every temporary worker you engage on a contract for services, before the first assignment, whatever its length. Since 1 October 2026 the employment business is the employer for the Scheme of the people it engages on a worker’s contract.
Every PAYE temp you employ under a contract of employment, as before.
Any substitute a contract allows a worker to send, before the substitute works.
Not the hirer’s own direct hires. For a permanent introduction the hirer is the employer and carries the duty; your terms of business should say so in plain words.
Umbrella workers are checked by the umbrella company that employs them, but read point 4 before you rely on that, because the answer turns on what your client contract says you supply.

2. The 1 October 2026 changes, in four lines

The definition of employer for the Scheme now includes a person who engages an individual under a worker’s contract, a person who engages an individual sub-contractor, and an online matching service.
A civil penalty for such a worker can only arise where the engagement began on or after 1 October 2026; nothing changes for people taken on before that date.
Extended liability reaches the business at the top of a contract to provide work or services when another employer’s people do the work, unless the prescribed written terms were in place before the work started.
The three ways to check, the statutory excuse, the two-year retention rule and the follow-up check did not change.

3. The check itself

Before the first day or the first shift, with no exception for the urgent fill. A check done afterwards repairs nothing.
One of three prescribed routes. The Home Office online check for anyone with an eVisa, using a nine-character share code beginning with W on the Home Office’s own service, the photograph matched to the person in front of you or on a live video call; codes beginning with R cannot be accepted. The manual check of an original List A or List B document, held in your hands with the person present or on a live video call, the relevant pages copied. A registered digital verification provider for a valid British or Irish passport or passport card.
Never a photocopy, a scan sent by email, a screenshot or an expired biometric residence permit.
The Home Office’s dated declaration on every copy, “The date on which this right to work check was made: [date]”, or a dated record made at the time.
Where a person has an outstanding application, appeal or review, the Employer Checking Service; a Positive Verification Notice is a statutory excuse for six months.
Follow-up checks in the diary for every time-limited permission, on or before the date the permission ends. No follow-up is needed for settled status, EU Settlement Scheme status or a List A document.
One check at the start of a contract for services covers the engagement; a new contract after a break is a new engagement and a new check.

4. The supply chain, the five written terms

If your contract with the client is for the supply of workers, you are the employer for the Scheme of the temps you engage and the chain rules do not reach you or the client.
If your contract with the client is for the delivery of a service, a managed service, an outsourced function, a staffed site, then every umbrella company, sub-agency or sub-contractor whose people do that work is another employer in your chain, and you keep a statutory excuse against extended liability only with these in writing before the work starts. That the supplier carries out prescribed checks on every individual it provides. That it does not sub-contract further without your written consent and replicates the obligations in any permitted sub-contract. That you may audit its compliance. That you may act against it, including suspension or termination, where illegal working is found and no statutory excuse exists. That it will co-operate with any Home Office investigation and give the make-up of the chain and each business’s official name, type, registered address and company number.
Wherever a contract allows a substitute, a prescribed check on every substitute before they work, never delegated to the individual doing the work, and the person on site shown to be the person checked.
Proportionate identity verification on site where the risk warrants it, site passes, attendance systems or re-verification at the start of a shift.
Where you cannot tell which side of the line you are on, put the written terms in anyway.

5. The file

The copy in a form that cannot be altered, PDF or paper, kept for the whole engagement and for two years after it ends, then securely destroyed.
Retrievable within a day. The Home Office works with HMRC and the Fair Work Agency through shared intelligence, so an inspection on one matter can become a request on another.
One named owner of the procedure with a deputy, and the procedure written into the onboarding every consultant follows, because a consultant onboarding a temp at a client’s site is doing the agency’s check.
Suspected illegal working reported to the Home Office with a Unique Reference Number, which reduces any penalty by £5,000 per worker, as does active co-operation with an investigation.

6. The discrimination safeguards

Everyone checked in the same way, British and Irish citizens included.
No deciding whom to check from nationality, accent, surname or time in the UK, no discouraging an applicant because of a perceived immigration status, and no insisting on one route when the person can lawfully use another.
The Home Office’s code of practice on avoiding unlawful discrimination followed, and the consultant trained on it, because a tribunal award for discrimination has no upper limit.

Questions people ask

Does a recruitment agency have to do right to work checks on temps on contracts for services?

Yes, since 1 October 2026, for engagements that began on or after that date. The Home Office’s employer’s guide names the employment business that engages individuals on contracts for services as their employer for the Scheme, responsible for the check and liable for the penalty if it is not done as prescribed. Source, the employer’s guide to right to work checks, 1 October 2026 edition, gov.uk.

What is the civil penalty for employing an illegal worker in 2026?

The calculation starts at £45,000 for each illegal worker for a first breach and £60,000 for each worker for a repeat breach within three years, reduced by £5,000 per worker where the employer reported its suspicion and received a Unique Reference Number before the Home Office identified the worker, and by £5,000 per worker for active co-operation. Source, the code of practice on preventing illegal working, gov.uk.

How long must a recruitment agency keep right to work documents?

For the whole of the engagement and for two years after it ends, in a form that cannot be altered, with the date of the check recorded in the Home Office’s words. Source, the employer’s guide, gov.uk.

Can a temp send a substitute without a right to work check?

No. Since 1 October 2026, wherever a contract permits substitution, a prescribed check must be done on every substitute before they work, the check must not be delegated to the individual doing the work, and the person on site must be shown to be the person checked. Source, the employer’s guide, extended liability and substitution controls, gov.uk.

Related BIOR guides

This page is general information, not legal advice. Check the current Home Office guidance and take advice from your own solicitor where a situation is complex or high-risk.

One step you can take today. Score your agency against the six parts above. BIOR Agency Members have the full guide, the record sheet and the five written terms in their library, and membership includes the certification assessment. See ior.org/agency-membership. Check any recruiter at ior.org/certified.

Written by The BIOR Membership Team. Last reviewed 21 October 2026. Sources, the Home Office employer’s guide to right to work checks (1 October 2026) and the code of practice on preventing illegal working, gov.uk, both read that day.

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