Right to work in the UK screening – are you following the process?

Almost half of organisations are failing to screen recruitment candidates from outside the UK, putting them at risk of future penalties should an employee turn out to be in the country illegally. 40% of employers said they did not screen international hires, compared to 78% that said they carried out checks on domestic staff.

Employers are required to undertake ‘right to work’ checks to ascertain that a person has the legal right to work in the UK. If an employer fails to conduct checks before employment commences, the employer will have no defence to civil penalties and sanctions. The right to work check requires employers to obtain the originals of prescribed documents. These must be viewed in the presence of the employee to assess validity, copies taken and kept securely, and the date of the check clearly recorded on the documents.

The failure to comply with immigration checks costs UK businesses £50m a year.