Last reviewed: 4 October 2026. This guide is general information, not legal advice. Right to work checks are a UK-wide immigration requirement; the law cited applies across the UK.
TL;DR
- Since 1 October 2026, the Right to Work Scheme goes beyond employees: it covers worker's contracts, individual sub-contractors and some online matching services.
- It also adds extended liability: a business contracted to deliver work to a third party, which relies on a chain of contracts for the workers, may be treated as their employer.
- In a standard agency supply, nothing changes about who checks: the employment business does, and hirers are not expected to duplicate the check.
- Penalty: up to £60,000 per illegal worker.
- The Home Office published its final Employer's guide to right to work checks on 1 October 2026.
The legal change behind it
The change comes from section 48 of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025, which amends the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006. Legislation.gov.uk records that section 48 came into force on 1 October 2026.
The Home Office's Right to work checks: an employer's guide page was updated on the same day with "final employer RTW guidance". The guide (a PDF of about 80 pages) explains that the Act extends the scheme "beyond traditional employment relationships to a wider range of working arrangements". Two mechanisms matter:
- A wider definition of employing someone: engaging an individual under a worker's contract, engaging an individual sub-contractor, and an online matching service providing details of a service provider to clients.
- Extended liability: a civil penalty can reach a business other than the one holding the direct contract with the worker. It applies where a business is under a contract to provide work or services to a third party and contracts with another employer to provide the workers, where an online matching service is involved, or where the contract allows the work to be substituted to another individual.
Who checks in an agency supply chain
This is the question agencies ask first, and the guide answers it directly in its Annex C (questions and answers):
Where an employment business directly engages agency workers and supplies them to work within a hirer's own operations, it remains the longstanding position that the employment business, as the employer with the direct contractual relationship with the worker, is responsible for conducting the right to work check. In a standard agency supply arrangement, the changes are not intended to require routine duplication of these checks by the hirer.
The guide illustrates it twice:
- Worker's contract (Example 2): an employment business supplies temps to bars and restaurants on a contract for services. The employment business is the employer for the scheme and does the check.
- Use of agency workers (Example 12): a manufacturer takes temps from an employment business to work in its own operations. Extended liability does not apply to the manufacturer or to the employment business, and responsibility stays with the employment business.
Where your agency may be caught by extended liability
The picture changes when your agency is not just supplying people but is contracted to deliver a service to a client, and uses other businesses to supply the workers who do it. The guide's examples include a managed service. In its examples of subcontracted and managed services, the business contracted to deliver the work "may be treated as the employer" of the individuals working through the chain. To establish a statutory excuse, it must comply with the "prescribed requirements in relation to the contractual arrangements".
The guide also says the Home Office "will ordinarily seek to identify the person responsible for the relevant contractual arrangements", rather than treating every party in a chain as liable.
Umbrella companies
The Home Office guide does not mention umbrella companies. Its general rule is that the employer with the direct contractual relationship with the worker carries out the check. Where an umbrella company employs your contractors, agree in writing who carries out the check and who keeps the evidence, rather than assuming. For the tax side of umbrella chains, see umbrella company PAYE rules from April 2026.
Contractors and personal service companies
Contract desks place many people through their own limited company. The guide's answer is deliberately not a blanket one:
- Example 6: a client contracting directly with a graphic designer's personal service company, for a specific project, does not need to check.
- Annex C: "There is no blanket exclusion simply because a worker is described as a contractor, freelancer or consultant, or provides services through a PSC." The starting point is "the substance of the arrangements and how they operate in practice".
- IR35 does not decide it. "An IR35 determination is a tax assessment and does not determine right to work checking responsibilities." Our guide to IR35 for recruitment agencies covers the tax side.
In practice: document, for each type of engagement you run (PAYE temp, umbrella, PSC, sole trader), who checks and why, using the factors the guide lists. These include who engages or supplies the individual, who can replace them, whether substitution is allowed, and whether the client is buying a service or people.
Timing: not retrospective
The guide says the measures "are not intended to be retrospective. The relevant date is when the contractual arrangement is entered into, not when the work starts or continues." For the newly covered arrangements, a civil penalty "may only be imposed where the employment commenced on or after 1 October 2026".
Watch extensions and variations. The guide says a change "should not be assumed either to bring it within scope or to leave its position unchanged solely because it is described as a variation, renewal or extension". On the other hand, for intermittent assignments with the same employer, a fresh check is not needed before each assignment, provided you hold a valid statutory excuse and carry out any required follow-up check.
How to check, and the penalties
GOV.UK's checking a job applicant's right to work lists the routes: an online check with the share code the applicant gives you, a check of original documents, or an identity service provider using identity document validation technology. British and Irish citizens cannot get a share code, so their documents must be checked or an identity service provider used.
The sanctions, from the employer's guide and GOV.UK:
- a civil penalty of up to £60,000 per illegal worker;
- in serious cases, a criminal conviction with up to five years in prison and an unlimited fine;
- business closure and compliance orders, director disqualification, loss of the ability to sponsor migrants, and publication as a non-compliant employer.
The guide also reminds employers that discrimination when carrying out checks is unlawful: check everyone in the same way.
What Marvin does, and does not do
Marvin does not carry out right to work checks. It is not connected to the Home Office online checking service and is not an identity service provider, so the check and its records stay with your compliance process.
What Marvin manages is the rest of the contract desk: placements and assignments, the contractor's personal space with their assignments and the documents you share, monthly timesheets in days and half-days signed by the client without an account, and client invoices at the day rate. See contract and temp recruitment software and timesheet software for recruitment agencies, or book a demo.
Frequently asked questions
Who carries out the right to work check when an agency supplies a temp?
In a standard supply arrangement, the employment business that engages the worker and supplies them to work in the hirer's own operations. The Home Office guide of 1 October 2026 says this remains the longstanding position and that the changes are not intended to make hirers routinely duplicate the check.
What changed on 1 October 2026?
The Right to Work Scheme now covers people engaged under a worker's contract, individual sub-contractors and certain online matching services, not only employees. It also introduces extended liability for some contractual chains, for example where a business contracted to provide a service relies on another business to supply the workers.
Are contractors working through a personal service company exempt?
Not automatically. The Home Office says there is no blanket exclusion because someone is called a contractor or works through a PSC. A client contracting directly with a PSC for a service does not need to check, but each arrangement has to be assessed on its substance.
What is the penalty for getting it wrong?
A civil penalty of up to £60,000 per illegal worker. In serious cases, a criminal conviction with up to five years in prison and an unlimited fine, as well as other sanctions such as director disqualification.
Does the change apply to contractors already on assignment?
The Home Office says the measures are not retrospective. The relevant date is when the contractual arrangement was entered into: arrangements made before 1 October 2026 are not brought into scope just because the work continues.
Can Marvin carry out right to work checks?
No. Marvin is not connected to the Home Office online checking service and is not an identity service provider. The check, and the records it requires, stay with your compliance process.
