The checklist #
One copy per person. Use the section for the route you took, and leave the other two blank. It is a working aid, not a substitute for the Home Office guide it follows.
Click anything in brackets to type over it, then copy, print or download the result. Nothing you type leaves this page.
Right to work checklist
| Person’s name | [Full name] |
|---|---|
| Role | [Job title] |
| Start date | [Date] |
| Check carried out by | [Name] |
| Date of the check | [Date] |
| Route used | [Original documents, online share code check, or digital provider] |
| Result | [Continuous right to work, or time-limited until a date] |
| Follow-up check due | [Date, or not needed] |
Before any check
| Check | Done | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| You have asked this person to prove their right to work in the same way you ask everyone, whatever their nationality, and have not insisted on one method | ||
| The check is done before they start work |
Route 1: original documents (anyone)
| Check | Done | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Original documents from List A or List B of the Home Office’s acceptable documents | ||
| Checked with the holder present, in person or on a live video call, while you have the originals in your hands | ||
| Photos and dates of birth match across the documents and match the person | ||
| Their permission to be in the UK has not expired | ||
| They are allowed to do this work, including any limit on the type of work or the hours; for a student, their term and vacation dates are obtained and copied | ||
| The documents look genuine, have not been tampered with and belong to the person | ||
| Any difference in names is explained by a supporting document, such as a marriage certificate or deed poll, which is copied too | ||
| Clear copies made in a format that cannot be altered: for a passport, every page with the expiry date, nationality, date of birth, signature, permission, photo and any visa or entry stamp; any other document in full, both sides | ||
| The date of the check recorded, for example: "The date on which this right to work check was made: [date]" |
Route 2: Home Office online check with a share code
| Check | Done | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| A share code that starts with W and was issued within the last 90 days | ||
| Checked on the employer service, "Check a job applicant’s right to work: use their share code", with their date of birth, not on the page the person sees | ||
| The photo on the result is the person in front of you, in person or on a video call | ||
| The result says they can do this work; any restriction and the expiry date are noted | ||
| The profile page, with the photo and the date of the check, saved as a PDF or HTML file |
Route 3: digital check through a certified provider
| Check | Done | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| For a British or Irish passport, or an Irish passport card only | ||
| The provider is on the government’s register of certified digital verification services | ||
| You have the provider’s written output of the check | ||
| The photo and details in it match the person, checked in person or on a video call |
Records and follow-up
| Check | Done | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Copies stored securely for the whole of the employment and 2 years after it ends, then securely destroyed | ||
| Copies can be produced quickly if the Home Office asks for them | ||
| Time-limited permission: a follow-up check is in the diary for on or before the date it ends | ||
| If they cannot show their right to work, or have an application, appeal or review outstanding: the Employer Checking Service is used and its Positive Verification Notice kept |
| Signed by the person who did the check | Date |
The three ways to check #
| Route | Who it is for | What you keep |
|---|---|---|
| Original documents | Anyone with acceptable documents from List A or List B of the Home Office guide | Unalterable copies of the documents, and a record of the date of the check |
| Online check with a share code | People with digital immigration status. Someone with an eVisa can only prove their right to work this way | The profile page from the employer service, saved as a PDF or HTML file |
| Digital check through a certified provider | British and Irish citizens with a British or Irish passport, or an Irish passport card | The provider’s output of the check |
The Home Office guide is clear that you cannot insist on one route. A British citizen without a passport, or anyone who does not want a digital check, must be offered a manual check of original documents instead.
What to keep, and for how long #
Every route ends in the same place: a copy you can show the Home Office quickly, kept for the whole of the employment and for 2 years after it ends, then securely destroyed.
Where permission is time-limited, the defence lasts only until it expires. The follow-up check should happen on or before the date the permission ends, and the whole process, including the record of the date, is repeated. If the person has an application, appeal or review outstanding and cannot prove their status, the Employer Checking Service issues a Positive Verification Notice, which is what you keep instead.
What changes on 1 October 2026 #
The Home Office published a new version of its employer’s guide in draft on 11 September 2026, and says it will come into force on 1 October 2026. The steps in this checklist carry across. What changes is who has to do them, and a few details of the digital route.
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More working arrangements are covered
The scheme extends from employees to people engaged on a worker’s contract, individual sub-contractors, and people offered to customers through an online matching service. Penalties for those arrangements apply only where the engagement began on or after 1 October 2026.
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Liability can reach further up a contract chain
Where you contract to provide work or services and another business supplies the workers, or a contract allows a worker to send a substitute, the new guide says you may be treated as employing whoever does the work.
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A digital provider must be registered
Using a digital provider stays optional, but if you use one it must be on the government register. The new guide also lets registered providers check British and Irish passports up to six months past expiry.
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Record and retain becomes its own step
The manual check becomes obtain, check, copy, and record and retain, which is how this checklist is already laid out.
Because the new version was still a draft on the day we read it, check the Home Office publication page for the final text before you rely on the detail.
How to use it well #
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Fill one in for every new starter
Including British citizens, in the same way. Consistency is what the Home Office asks for to avoid discrimination.
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Keep it with the copies
The checklist, the document copies or online profile, and the date record belong in the same secure file.
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Put the follow-up date in the diary on the day
A time-limited right to work is the check most likely to lapse, because nobody is looking at it when it does.
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Delete on time as well
Two years after someone leaves, the guide says the copies must be securely destroyed. A file nobody ever clears is out of line with it.
What keeping this up by hand costs #
The check itself takes minutes. The work that repeats is everything around it: asking for the documents or the share code, chasing the ones that do not arrive, filing the copies, and keeping a list of expiry dates that somebody has to remember to look at. That last part is pure rules: a date, a reminder, a record. The part that needs a person is looking at the document, or the photo, and the person in front of you.
For recruitment businesses, where this happens at volume, right to work checks for agency workers sets out who carries the duty and where the admin actually sits. The task sorter separates that kind of work from the kind that needs judgement.