Right to Work checks are expanding: what employers need to do now

It is expected that in Autumn 2026, section 48 of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 will expand the scope of UK right to work (“RTW”) compliance – beyond the current requirement to carry out RTW checks on employees, to include various casual and zero-hours workers, with potential fines of up to £60,000 per illegal worker unless proper checks are completed.

These changes could significantly increase the number of RTW checks that organisations must perform, along with raising the risk of facing civil penalties.

Who might be in scope

The draft legislation proposes to extend civil penalties for breaches of the RTW requirements, to include:

• engaging someone under a worker’s contract, under which they personally perform the work and the engager is not the worker’s client or customer;
• engaging an individual subcontractor, where the organisation has contracted with a third party to provide work or services; and
• operating an online matching platform that supplies potential clients with details of a paid service provider, for a fee.

In complex chains of subcontractors, civil penalties may apply to a number of entities.

Sponsor guidance and the RTW checks

In April 2026, an error in the sponsor guidance suggested that RTW checks would be required for non-sponsored, non-employee workers. The Home Office has since confirmed that this was a mistake and issued corrected guidance on 20 May 2026.

For now, sponsors are required to carry out RTW checks only for employees and sponsored workers, including sponsored workers who are not direct employees. But that position will change later this year, as outlined above.

The guidance is likely to be updated once the new legislation takes effect, so that sponsors must also check the RTW status for those additional categories of workers and subcontractors brought within scope. Failure to comply could result in sponsors losing their license if workers are found to be working illegally (as well as liability for the fines outlined above).

What are the implications for employers?

The direction of travel is clear: more categories of workers will be included, more checks will be needed, and there will be a greater focus on enforcement. However, as we await guidance on implementation of the changes, there remain a number of unanswered questions on the reach of the new rules.

What we do know though, is that sectors that rely heavily on casual labour and subcontractors will face operational pinch points; around short‑notice engagements, repeat checks, visa monitoring, fees for digital RTW checks, budgeting for administration, and record‑keeping.

Employers across the board will be affected by this. However, industries that depend extensively on casual workers and/or subcontractors, such as retail and construction, will be particularly impacted.

Organisations should be taking steps now to prepare for the changes. This will likely necessitate, as a first step, an assessment of the make-up of their workforce; to determine how many additional workers and subcontractors will fall within scope of the new legislation and require RTW checks. This may include (but will not be limited to) reviewing contracts and service agreements, alongside the reality of the working relationship in practice, to ensure clarity around the employment status of staff.   

Consideration should also be given to the organisation’s current RTW practices, and how these will need to be updated to enable compliance with the new requirements; bearing in mind that many more workers and subcontractors are likely to be brought into scope than previously.

Employers will need to ensure their resources and systems can meet the new requirements, so that they can hit the ground running when the changes come into effect.

Why might employment law advice be required?

One of the consequences of the new RTW legislation, is that it will be all the more important for employers to ensure that they have correctly assessed the employment status of their workforce. That is to say, whether (and which of) their staff are employees, workers, self-employed contractors or volunteers (under UK employment law). It is this employment status which will determine whether an individual is caught by the expanded RTW requirements or not.

On the face of it, this may seem like a relatively straightforward exercise; however, the question of employment status can be a complex one, as the answer is governed not only by what the contract in question says, but also by the reality of the working relationship in practice. Bearing in mind that misclassification of employment status has the potential to result in significant legal, financial and reputational liability for an organisation, we would recommend that bespoke legal advice is sought where necessary.

In our webinar on Tuesday 30^th June, Chetal Patel and Rachel Mathieson will unpack the changes, areas of uncertainty, and practical steps to prepare. Sign up here.

The material in this article is provided for guidance and general information only and is not intended to constitute legal or other professional advice upon which you should rely. In particular, the information should not be used as a substitute for a full and proper consultation with a suitably qualified professional. Please do contact the Bates Wells team if you require further information.