Right to work checks: how to check a share code correctly

In brief

Confirm status before day one, using an accepted method, and keep the record.

You must check that anyone you employ is allowed to do the work in question before they start, and you must do it using one of the methods set out in the GOV.UK guidance: an online share code check, a manual check of original documents, or a check carried out through a certified identity service provider using Identity Document Validation Technology. Doing the check correctly and keeping a dated record of it gives you a statutory excuse against a civil penalty if it later turns out the person did not have the right to work.

The obligation applies to every person you employ, not only those who look or sound as though they might need permission to work in the UK. Applying the check consistently to everyone, at the same stage of recruitment, is both a legal safeguard for you and the way the guidance expects you to avoid discriminating against candidates on the basis of nationality or perceived immigration status.

The three accepted routes

Pick one per candidate and record it.

Doing a manual check properly

What you are actually confirming.

• The documents are genuine, original and unchanged, and belong to the person presenting them.
• Photographs are consistent across the documents and look like the applicant.
• Dates of birth are consistent across the documents.
• Where names differ, supporting evidence explains the change.
• The check happens with the applicant present, before employment starts.
• You keep copies and record the date the check was made.

Digital checks in detail: using a share code

What you do, step by step.

• Ask the applicant for their share code and confirm you are using the correct service for a right to work check, not right to rent.
• Enter the share code and the applicant's date of birth on the Home Office online checking service for employers.
• Compare the photograph returned by the service against the person in front of you, or on a live video call if the check is remote.
• Read the status and any conditions shown, including any restriction on hours or type of work.
• Retain the online check, or a copy of it, showing the date you carried out the check.
• Diarise a follow-up check before any expiry date shown, where the status is time-limited.

The Employer Checking Service

For the cases neither route can resolve on its own.

Some applicants cannot produce an eligible physical document and cannot generate a share code, typically because they have made an application, administrative review or appeal to the Home Office that has not yet been decided, and their previous permission has expired in the meantime. In this situation you can apply to the Employer Checking Service, which is a Home Office facility separate from the online share code system, and it will confirm whether the person is permitted to work for you while their case is outstanding.

A positive response from the Employer Checking Service gives you a statutory excuse for a fixed period, usually six months, after which you must carry out a further check if the person is still employed and their case remains unresolved. You need the applicant's consent and certain reference details to make the request, and the service does not replace either of the two main routes: it exists specifically for the gap between them.

Statutory excuse and record keeping

The paperwork is what protects you.

The statutory excuse is not automatic just because someone happened to have the right to work. It only arises where you carried out one of the prescribed checks correctly, at the right time, and kept the evidence. If a penalty is later considered, the Home Office looks at whether your check met the requirements in force at the time it was done, which is why using out of date guidance, for example still accepting a biometric residence card for a manual check, can undermine an excuse even where the underlying status was genuine.

• Copy the right pages

  For a manual check, copy the document pages that show the applicant's details, photograph and, where relevant, permission to work, in a format that cannot later be altered.

• Date every record

  Mark the date the check was carried out, whether that is a document copy or a saved online check result.

• Retain for the required period

  Keep records for the duration of employment and for two years afterwards, in line with the guidance.

• Store securely

  Right to work records contain personal data and should be held and disposed of in line with data protection requirements.

Follow-up checks for time-limited permission

A single check is not always enough.

Where an employee's right to work is time-limited, your statutory excuse only lasts until that permission is due to expire. To maintain the excuse, you need to carry out a follow-up check before the expiry date shown, using whichever of the accepted methods is appropriate at that point. Missing this step means that even though the original check was done correctly, you no longer hold a live excuse from the date the permission lapsed.

Build a simple diary system into your HR process so that anyone with a time-limited status is flagged well before their expiry date, rather than relying on memory. Where an employee has made a further application before their permission expired, their rights are usually protected while it is pending, but you should still confirm the position through the Employer Checking Service if a share code or document check cannot be completed at that point.

TUPE transfers and existing staff

What happens to right to work records when a business changes hands.

Where employees transfer to you under the Transfer of Undertakings regulations, you may in some circumstances rely on the right to work checks the previous employer already carried out, provided those checks were done correctly and you are given copies of the records at the point of transfer. This can preserve a statutory excuse without needing to repeat every check on day one, though many employers choose to carry out fresh checks after a transfer as a matter of good practice, particularly where the quality or completeness of the inherited records is in any doubt.

You do not need to carry out retrospective checks on existing employees from the EU, EEA or Switzerland who were already working for you before 1 July 2021, provided the employment has been continuous. This is a specific transitional arrangement and does not extend to new hires from those countries after that date, who are checked under the same rules as any other overseas national.

The civil penalty regime

What is actually at stake if a check is missed or done wrongly.

Employing someone who does not have the right to work, without having carried out a correct and dated check, can lead to a civil penalty. The scale of penalty reflects factors such as whether this is a repeat breach and whether you reported any concerns and cooperated with the Home Office once the issue came to light. In more serious cases, knowingly employing someone without the right to work is a criminal offence, which sits outside the civil penalty framework altogether.

Correct check, in date, on record

Statutory excuse maintained

No check carried out

No statutory excuse; full penalty exposure

Check done but not to the required standard

Excuse may not apply; treated as no check

Time-limited status not rechecked before expiry

Excuse lapses from the expiry date

Knowingly employing someone without the right to work

Potential criminal liability, separate from civil penalties

Students and sponsored workers

Extra conditions that a right to work check does not cover on its own.

Some visa categories, most obviously student visas, come with restrictions on the number of hours someone can work during term time, or on the type of work they can do at all. A right to work check will usually show these conditions, but checking the code or document is only the first step: you also need a process to make sure hours actually worked do not exceed what the person's status allows, since a right to work check does not monitor ongoing compliance for you.

For sponsored workers on routes such as the Skilled Worker route, the right to work check and the sponsorship duties are two different obligations that sit alongside each other. A correct right to work check confirms the individual may work in the UK; it does not confirm they may work in the specific role and salary band recorded on their Certificate of Sponsorship, which is a separate compliance question tracked through your sponsor licence duties rather than through the right to work process.

Common mistakes employers make

Most penalty risk comes from a handful of recurring errors.

• Carrying out the check after the person has already started work, rather than before.
• Accepting a biometric residence card or permit for a manual check when the person should instead provide a share code.
• Failing to record the date a check was made, leaving an undated copy that is hard to rely on later.
• Not diarising follow-up checks for staff with time-limited permission, so the excuse lapses unnoticed.
• Asking only certain candidates, based on appearance, accent or surname, for extra checks or a share code — a discrimination risk as well as a compliance failure.
• Treating a right to work check as covering sponsorship compliance, when the two are separate obligations with separate records.
• Assuming an Employer Checking Service response never needs revisiting, when in fact its excuse is time-limited.

Sponsorship is a separate obligation

A right to work check is not a licence.

A correct right to work check confirms an individual may work for you. It does not permit you to sponsor someone who needs sponsorship: to employ EEA and Swiss citizens coming to the UK to work from 1 January 2021, and other overseas nationals on the Skilled Worker route, you need a sponsor licence and a Certificate of Sponsorship as well.

• Check every hire

  The right to work process applies to every employee, including British and Irish citizens.

• Sponsor where required

  A sponsor licence is a separate application with its own compliance duties and reporting deadlines.

• Keep the file

  Right to work evidence sits alongside your sponsor files and is looked at on a compliance visit.

• Do not discriminate

  Same process, same stage, every candidate, whatever their nationality.

Information sourced from the GOV.UK guidance "Checking a job applicant's right to work" and the employer's guide to right to work checks, reproduced under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Guidance changes; we verify the position at the point of instruction.