Right to Work Checks Now Reach Every Part of Your Supply Chain
By Carl Henning, General Counsel, United Kingdom, Ireland & Nordic Regions
From 1 October 2026, UK right to work checks apply to far more people than before. Until now, the duty to check mainly covered employees. Under section 48 of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025, it now also covers workers, individual sub-contractors, and people who find work through online matching platforms. Only the genuinely self-employed fall outside the scheme.
For recruitment supply chains, this is a significant shift. Most workers who find work through an agency will now need a right to work check, and responsibility for getting it right does not sit with one business alone. Here is how the new rules work, and what each party in the chain can do to stay compliant.
Right to work responsibilities at a glance
|
Party in the supply chain |
Main responsibility |
|
Umbrella company (or whoever pays the worker directly) |
Carry out the right to work check before work starts |
|
Agency or MSP |
Understand and support the checks, set clear contract terms, and audit where needed |
|
End client |
Map the supply chain and confirm the person on site is the person who was checked |
Who is now in scope
In practice, most workers engaged through recruitment businesses for work-finding services will now need to be checked. The new rules apply to newly covered arrangements that begin on or after 1 October 2026.
Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) workers are likely to be in scope. The Home Office draft employer’s guide to right to work checks uses a construction supply chain as one of its main examples, which shows how the wider definition is meant to work.
Independent contractors working through their own personal service company (PSC) are a different case. The same guidance explains that where a client contracts directly with a PSC for services, rather than engaging the individual, the client does not need to carry out a check. Contractors working through a PSC on an outside IR35 basis are therefore likely to fall outside the scheme, because their employment status assessment supports that they are genuinely self-employed. However, where a PSC exercises the right of substitution, each substitute will fall within scope and will need to have their right to work entitlement verified. Every engagement depends on its own facts, so it is worth confirming how each one is set up.
The three ways to carry out a check
The law allows one of three types of check:
A manual document check. The person presents their original documents, such as a passport, and the checker confirms they are genuine and belong to that person.
A Home Office online check. For non-British and non-Irish citizens, the checker uses the person’s share code through the Home Office online service.
A digital check through a digital verification service provider (DVSP). For British and Irish citizens with a valid passport. From 1 October 2026, the provider must be on the government register of digital verification services and specifically authorised for right to work checks.
The check must be completed before work starts. It is usually carried out by the “employer,” meaning the party that pays the worker directly. Where an umbrella company sits in the supply chain, that is normally the umbrella company.
What agencies and MSPs should do
The risk of engaging someone who does not have the right to work can travel up the supply chain. Even when you are not the party carrying out the check, it pays to know it is being done well.
Start by understanding how your umbrella company carries out its checks. In particular, ask how it confirms that the person it employs matches the documents provided, whether through a DVSP, in person, or by video call where a manual check is used.
Next, look at your contracts. Most already set out who in the supply chain is responsible for right to work checks. It is also worth considering how substitution would work under the contract, and whether substitution rights need to be limited, since any substitute would also need a valid check before starting work.
Audit rights make good commercial sense, even though full audits can be demanding. To keep the admin manageable, consider periodic spot checks. Simply ask for copies of documents and evidence that checks were completed. This gives you confidence the contract is being carried out properly. Relying on larger businesses in the chain to do this for you can be a risky approach.
Small changes that keep onboarding moving
Agencies can make a real difference to how smoothly checks run. Asking an umbrella company to onboard a worker at 4pm on a Friday, to be paid the same day, is not good practice. Under the new rules, it means part of the compliance process is likely to be missed, or the process and the worker’s pay will be delayed.
The opposite approach works much better. When workers have their passport or visa documents ready before they first speak to the umbrella company, checks can be completed quickly. That avoids unnecessary delays and disappointment for everyone involved.
What end clients should do
End clients should map out their supply chain and understand the role and responsibilities of each party in it. Knowing who carries out which check makes it far easier to spot gaps.
End clients also have a part to play that no one else can. A right to work check includes making sure the person is who they say they are, sometimes called the imposter check. Umbrella companies and agencies usually have no direct view of who arrives on site each day. End clients are best placed to confirm that the person who presents themselves for work is the same person whose right to work was checked.
The cost of getting it wrong
Civil penalties for illegal working are up to £45,000 per worker for a first breach and up to £60,000 per worker for a repeat breach within three years. These amounts are not new, but from 1 October 2026 they apply to a much wider range of working arrangements.
There is a reputational side too. The Home Office publishes a quarterly report of illegal working penalties, which names employers that have not paid a penalty after exhausting their appeal rights, as well as employers that have received more than one. The code of practice on preventing illegal working sets out how penalties are calculated and what counts as a compliant check.
The good news is that a correctly completed check, carried out before work begins, protects the business that carried it out. Clear roles and good habits across the supply chain are the best defense.
How Brookson can help
For over 30 years, Brookson has supported recruitment agencies as a compliant supply chain partner. Through our umbrella employment, CIS services, and limited company accountancy, we help agencies manage compliance across every working arrangement their contractors use, with dedicated account managers rather than automated systems.
If you would like to talk through how the new right to work rules affect your supply chain, we are here to help. Speak to our agency specialists.
This post reflects the law and Home Office guidance available at the time of publication. For the latest version of the guidance, visit Right to work checks: an employer’s guide on GOV.UK.