Right to Work is changing: what UK recruiters need to know before 1 October 2026

For recruitment businesses operating across PAYE, umbrella and limited company models, the changes mean taking a closer look at who is actually performing the work, and where responsibility for the Right to Work check sits. The civil penalty for getting it wrong has fines up to £60,000 per illegal worker.

Currently, the Right to Work Scheme and civil penalties mainly target traditional employers – those with a direct contract of employment.

From 1 October 2026, the Right to Work Scheme applies more broadly. The scheme and civil penalty regime are extended beyond traditional employment to cover workers under worker’s contracts and individual sub-contractors in certain chains.

The bigger change: supply-chain responsibility

Perhaps the most important change for recruitment businesses is extended liability.

Whilst the Home Office will continue to look first to the employer that has the direct contractual relationship with the worker, the extended liability provision means that parties upstream in the contractual chain (including recruitment agencies, platforms, outsourcing businesses, and main contractors) could be held liable for illegal working if the direct employer cannot be identified and prescribed contractual and checking requirements have not been met.

Extended liability applies where:

• A party is contracted to provide services to a third party, but enters into a contract with another employer to provide workers to fulfil the contract
• Online matching services and platforms that match service providers to clients/customers
• A party engages a worker and the contract includes the right to substitute

To secure a statutory excuse in these non direct arrangements, new prescribed requirements must be met in three areas:

• Contractual terms and conditions (written statement)
• Substitution controls
• Identity verification systems and processes

The new framework therefore puts greater emphasis on contractual protections, audit rights and being able to demonstrate that the relevant checks have been completed.

For recruitment businesses, Right to Work is becoming less of an onboarding task and more of a supply-chain governance issue.

Four engagement models recrutiers need to consider

For workers employed directly by the recruitment business, it’s largely business as usual.

The organisation remains responsible for completing the appropriate Right to Work check before employment starts and retaining the required evidence

Umbrella workers

This is an area where recruiters should pay particular attention.

The umbrella company will normally be the worker’s employer and will have its own Right to Work obligations. However, recruitment businesses shouldn’t simply assume that means “Right to Work is the umbrella’s problem.”

The new scheme introduces wider responsibilities across contractual chains.

Recruiters should understand:

• who has the contractual relationship with the worker;
• who is responsible for the Right to Work check;
• how evidence of the check is obtained;
• what contractual protections exist;
• whether the umbrella can further subcontract the engagement; and

Knowing that a check has probably happened somewhere in the supply chain isn’t the same as being able to demonstrate compliance. Ensure your umbrella providers are doing correct Right to Work checks, that you have the necessary prescribed requirements in place (including contractual terms and ID checking systems) and that can you evidence this if called upon.

Limited company / PSC contractors

This is likely to generate the most questions. A contractor working through a personal service company is not automatically outside the Right to Work regime simply because the contract is between two companies.

Equally, the changes do not mean every director or shareholder of a limited company suddenly requires a Right to Work check from every client.

The important distinction is the substance of the engagement.

A genuine business-to-business service provided by an independent consultancy can remain outside the Right to Work scheme. But where an individual is effectively being supplied as labour through an agency or intermediary, the position can be different.

For recruiters, therefore, “Ltd company” should not be treated as a Right to Work status.

Instead, understand the actual engagement model and where responsibility sits within the contractual chain.

Genuinely self-employed contractors

The changes do not mean that everyone who performs work needs a Right to Work check.

A genuinely self-employed individual operating their own business and contracting directly with clients for the provision of services can remain outside the scheme.

However, labels such as “self-employed”, “contractor” or “consultant” aren’t enough. The substance of the arrangement matters.

This is particularly relevant where an individual is introduced by an agency and is personally providing their labour to an end client.

Where a party engages a worker with a right to substitute in the contract, extended liability will apply and the Home Office would expect substitution controls and ID checking systems to be in place.

What should recruiters do?

There are four areas worth reviewing before 1 October:

1. Map your engagement models

Document how you currently engage workers. PAYE, umbrella, PSC, self-employed, subcontractors and agency-to-agency and establish where Right to Work responsibility sits in each model.

2. Review supplier contracts

If you use umbrella companies, other agencies or subcontractors, check that your contracts provide sufficient visibility and protection around Right to Work checks, further subcontracting, audit rights and cooperation with investigations.

3. Make the evidence as important as the check

You should be able to demonstrate who was checked, when, how the check was completed, the outcome and where the evidence is stored.

4. Strengthen substitution controls (if relevant)

Require Right to Work checks on all substitutes before they start work. Ensure checks are not left to individuals; the employer must own them. Build contractual consequences for non-compliance or suspected illegal working.

A new way of thinking about Right to Work

The October changes are about more than simply increasing the number of people who fall within the scheme.

For recruiters, the question is moving from:

“Have we checked this candidate?”

to:

“Can we demonstrate that the person performing this work has been appropriately checked, that responsibility sits in the right place, and that our supply chain protects us if something goes wrong?”

A new requirement for digital Right to Work checks

There is also an important change for recruiters using digital verification.

From 1 October 2026, where an employer chooses to use a Digital Verification Service Provider (DVSP) for a prescribed digital Right to Work check, the provider must be independently certified and registered for the relevant Right to Work service. Using a digital provider that isn’t on the government register will not provide the employer with the statutory excuse against a civil penalty.

You can check your current provider against the register and ensure your provider has the ‘Right to Work’ supplementary code. At Tifo we partner with Trust ID for our Right to Work checks.

This change does not mean recruiters have to use a DVSP. Manual checks and the Home Office online checking service remain available where applicable.

Where can Tifo help?

Tifo of course can provide Right to Work checks in any of your profiles, as well as managing expiry dates for time-limited rights. If you need to do any retrospective checks on worker populations, we can assist with that to.

Supply chain compliance is at the heart of what Tifo does, and real time auditability of Right to Work checks is a key part of that. Reach out to Faye, Faye@tifo.team if you need any assistance.