Right to work check checklist
One missed right to work check can cost £45,000 per worker, or £60,000 if it is not your first. This free checklist covers the share code process step by step, the records that give you a statutory excuse, and the slips that turn into civil penalties.
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Why the record matters more than the decision
The penalty follows the missing evidence, not the hiring decision. A correctly completed and recorded check gives you a statutory excuse, which is the protection that stops a penalty landing even where a worker turns out not to have had the right to work. Get the check right and file it properly and you are covered. Do the same check and fail to record it and you are not.
Civil penalties are charged per worker, not per incident: up to £45,000 for a first breach and up to £60,000 for a repeat within three years. An employer with several people in scope can face a bill well into six figures, and for a sponsor licence holder the same failure puts the licence at risk too.
What's inside
- The check, step by step. From requesting a share code to recording the result, including what to do when a share code is not the right route.
- The follow-up calendar. When a repeat check falls due for someone with time-limited permission, and what happens if you miss it.
- Common mistakes. Expired documents, a photograph that no longer matches, and records kept in a form that will not stand up.
- Record templates. A consistent format so a check done by a site manager looks the same as one done by HR.
Right to work checks: your questions answered
What is a statutory excuse?
It is the legal protection an employer gets from carrying out and recording a compliant right to work check before employment starts. Hold it and you are shielded from a civil penalty for that worker, even if their status later turns out to be wrong.
How do you check a share code?
Through the Home Office online service, using the nine-character share code and the worker's date of birth. Check the photograph against the person, then save and retain the response as a PDF with the date of the check.
What counts as right to work evidence now that BRPs have expired?
An online share code check for most sponsored workers, a manual document check for British and Irish citizens, or an Employer Checking Service Positive Verification Notice where neither is possible. Physical Biometric Residence Permits expired on 31 December 2024. Checks completed correctly under the rules in force at the time keep their statutory excuse, so there is nothing to redo.
How long do you have to keep right to work records?
For the duration of employment and for two years after it ends. If you sponsor the worker, the record is also part of what the Home Office asks for at a compliance visit.
Do you need to repeat a right to work check?
Yes, where someone has time-limited permission. A repeat check is due before their current permission expires, and the statutory excuse runs out if you miss it.
Who can carry out a right to work check?
Anyone you delegate it to, which is the point that catches larger employers out. The liability stays with the employer, so a check carried out by a recruiter or a site manager has to meet the same standard and be recorded the same way.
Who this checklist is for
HR and People Operations teams, hiring managers, and anyone responsible for onboarding across more than one location. If checks in your organisation are carried out by people who do not report to you, the question stops being whether you can run a check correctly and becomes whether you can prove that 40 other people did.
About Borderless
Borderless is the UK platform for sponsor licence holders. We run Certificates of Sponsorship, visa applications, right to work checks, and ongoing compliance in one place, for over 500 employers and more than 13,000 sponsored workers across every sector that sponsors.
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