Extension of right to work scheme draft guidance published
The Home Office has published a draft of the updated employers' guide to right to work checks, following a public consultation on extending the right to work scheme to other working arrangements.
Section 15A of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 (as amended) will extend civil liability where a company is contracted to provide work or services to a third party as part of its business, and then in turn sub-contracts all or part of that work or services to another company, which then provides the workers to carry out the work or services.
The secondary legislation for this was laid on 30 June and the measures come into force on 1 October 2026. Guidance was updated following feedback from a consultation and will remain in draft form until this date.
Employers can be reassured that amendments to legislation shouldn't require them to repeat right to work checks on subcontractors, agency workers or other third-party staff. However, it's important that employers are aware of what's changing, as it could affect how they work with suppliers, subcontractors and other third-party organisations, particularly where right to work responsibilities form part of contractual arrangements.
The draft guidance is available on GOV.UK.
To support this the Home Office has also published an updated version of its draft code of practice on preventing illegal working.
The updates will be reflected in the NHS right to work checks standard and other resources in due course.
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