The UK Home Office published its draft Code of Practice on Preventing Illegal Working: Right to Work Scheme for Employers, introducing significant changes to the UK’s rules on carrying out right to work (RTW) checks, which are due to come into force on 1 October 2026.
Most notably, the changes expand both (i) the range of working arrangements in which RTW checks must be conducted to obtain a statutory excuse against a civil penalty; and (ii) the parties who may be liable for non-compliance. As a result, organisations that have not historically regarded themselves as the “employer” for RTW purposes in certain working arrangements may fall within scope from 1 October. This brings with it both new compliance obligations and increased exposure to civil penalties.
We summarised the key changes in our accompanying insight and, during this webinar, discussed:
Which working arrangements will be in scope
Who will be caught by the extension of liability
Practical steps for employers to ensure compliance from 1 October
The presentation materials from this event are now available.