Information for employers

For manual checks, you will need to have sight of an original specified document set out on the Home Office website in List A or List B, which is accessible. You will be required to take all reasonable steps to check the validity of the document and take a clear copy of it.

Please note that the Home Office has introduced a temporary concession permitting employers to inspect copies of acceptable right to work documents using video conferencing amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Please check the validity of this concession at the time of the right to work check.

This online employer checking service is usually suitable for a range of individuals. The most common scenarios where these checks are required are for those prospective workers who do not yet hold a valid immigration status, have applied for a new immigration status, have applied to extend their immigration status, or are challenging the refusal of an immigration status.

The online right to work check can be used as an alternative to the physical document check and is suitable for prospective workers who already possess a valid immigration status. It provides you with up-to-date information about a person’s right to work. Confirmation of that check must be retained on file. The online check is not available for everyone (for example, British citizenship cannot be checked using this method). You cannot insist on the online check, if the prospective worker prefers that you use the physical document check then you should use that method.

The guide below covers a few common scenarios and the process of checking right to work for these groups. However, the right to work check process is complex and differs depending on an individual’s circumstances.

We recommend reading the Home Office employer’s guide to right to work checks.

To employ eligible overseas workers, you will need to apply for a Home Office sponsor licence.

These workers can pass the right to work check, in most cases, with a passport (current or expired). In some circumstances, other documents are acceptable. For example, a certificate of naturalisation, together with an official document giving the person’s permanent

National Insurance number and their name issued by a government agency or a previous employer.

Please review List A to ensure that you are checking the right document

If a prospective worker has received pre-settled or settled status, they can pass the right to work check by providing you access to their online status. They will need to log into their online status, navigate to the prove their status section and then generate a share code. This share code has a 30-day validity and can be used by you to verify their right to work using the online Right to Work check.

If a prospective worker has applied to the EU Settlement Scheme but they are still awaiting the outcome of that application, you can check their right to work by accessing the Home Office Employer’s Checking Service online.

If a prospective worker has not applied to the EU Settlement Scheme at all, you cannot enter into a working relationship with them. They can pass the right to work check later, but they will need to make a late application to the EU Settlement Scheme. After they have done so, you can check their right to work (which will have been reinstated by the late application) by accessing the Employer’s Checking Service online.

If you have already undertaken a right to work check and that check took place before 01 July 2021, you are not required to undertake a repeat check or a retrospective check.

If a prospective worker has a Home Office Certificate of Application that says you must contact the Home Office to verify that person’s right to work, then you need to check their right to work by accessing the Employer’s Checking Service online.

If a prospective worker holds an Application Registration Card, for example, if their asylum application is outstanding, you need to check their right to work by accessing the Employer’s Checking Service online.

If a prospective worker is unable to produce the specified right to work document listed in List A or B but is able to demonstrate that they a long-resident who arrived in the UK before 1988, you can verify their right to work by using the Employer’s Checking Service online.

More information about hiring people already in the UK who are from outside of the UK, please check the government website.

You should give rest breaks to employees working more than six hours in a day, and these breaks should be away from desks or workstations. There are also rules on minimum rest periods between shifts. ACAS’s rest breaks page explains the law.

Employees who have worked for an employer for 26 weeks or more are entitled to request to work flexibly unless they have already asked to within the last year. Flexible working requests might concern hours of work, hybrid working, or even job-sharing arrangements. ACAS’s responding to a flexible working request page sets out the law for employers.

If an employer wishes to terminate someone’s employment, they need to establish a legally fair reason, such as misconduct or capability, and follow a fair procedure. If an employee believes they have been dismissed without a fair reason or procedure, they can bring a claim for unfair dismissal. To do this they usually need to have been employed by that employer for at least two years.

Some dismissals are automatically unfair in law and in these circumstances an employee will not need two years’ service to bring a claim. These include dismissing someone because they have gone on maternity leave, or because they have joined a trade union.

The ACAS website provides detailed guidance on dismissing someone fairly.

A redundancy is where you dismiss an employee because their role is no longer needed. This might be a change to the type or number of roles needed, or if a business is closing or changing location. Before making redundancies, you should consider any alternatives to job losses such as moving employees to new roles or varying working hours.



There are statutory requirements which you must follow when making redundancies. These requirements are stricter if you are making 20 or more employees redundant, as this is a collective redundancy. Requirements include holding a consultation process, providing a sufficient notice period and paying statutory redundancy pay. An employee’s entitlement to redundancy pay can be calculated and more information about making staff redundant is available on the government website.

In order to uphold standards of health and safety, you must be aware of all potential risks within your workplace and carry out regular risk assessments.

Since 2020, employers have been required to conduct specific COVID risk assessments. Visit the Health and Safety Executive page for more information on this.

Implementing a high level of health and safety standards has become even more vital in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Click on the relevant link to get information concerning the requirements you must meet, as an employer, for each health and safety factor in a post-COVID-19 workplace:

• Ventilation
• Mask wearing
• General hygiene
• Risk assessment

Having a health and safety policy for your workplace is mandatory. Visit health and safety policies in the workplace for more advice.

This government page is also useful for considering fire safety specifically.

The law requires that you have appropriate first aid kits, with responsible employee(s) allocated to them, located within your workplace, and that you distribute information concerning health and safety to your workforce.

Employer’s liability insurance covers you in the event of (most) accidents occurring within your workplace. Visit the government website for more information on what this is and how you can get it.

The mental health of your employees is just as important as their physical health, and you have a legal responsibility to treat it as such. For more information on how you can ensure that your workplace is an open environment that encourages employees to seek mental health support, visit the following ACAS page.



Visit COVID-19 and mental health for advice.