Right to work checks go digital

Today new legislation and regulatory guidance has come into force enabling employers to digitally verify the identities of British and Irish citizens with valid passports for the purpose of ‘Right to Work’ checks.

By using government certified ‘identification document validation technology’, the new legislation provides an alternative to manual checks for the purposes of employees having the right to work in the UK.

The legislation also removes various documents from the lists of acceptable documents (including Biometric Cards) for the purpose of Right to Work checks and corrects an ambiguity so that British citizens can now use expired passports to satisfy checks.

The changes come amid an extension of the temporary COVID-19 adjusted Right to Work measures, which allow for checks to be caried out virtually, which will now end on 30 September 2022.

Further details of the updated government guidance regarding Right to Work checks is available here.