All employers in the UK continue to have a responsibility to prevent illegal working, by conducting right to work checks. On 18th June, the Home Office published the latest guidance regarding how to carry out right to work checks post-Brexit and which documents you can use after 1st July 2021.
You can read that guidance on the Government website.
The main changes in the updated code of practice relate to the right to work checks required for EEA/Swiss nationals, with an EEA passport, national identity card or Residence Documentation no longer sufficient to prove their right to work.
From 1st July 2021, those EEA/Swiss nationals with a digital status under the EU Settlement Scheme will have to evidence this through the online checking service. Whether they have settled or pre-settled status will determine whether you will need to repeat their right to work check during their employment.
The online service is also available to EEA/Swiss nationals with a Frontier Worker Permit, as well as to people of any nationality with a Biometric Residence Permit. Manual checks can still be used for anyone with a physical BRP.
The ‘List A and List B’ structure remains the same, although the lists themselves have been amended. The following documents have been added to List A and List B as acceptable documents to evidence Right to Work in the UK:
In addition, a short exceptions list has been included for EEA citizens without Settled Status, which includes documents such as the Frontier Worker Permit, and the Service Provider of Switzerland visa.
For any users of the TrustID online verification services, we already incorporated the use of sharecodes into those services last year.
If you’re using our Right to Work service, there is no need for you to do anything. Following the publication of this latest guidance, the TrustID Right to Work service has been updated to include the published changes to List A and List B, as well as the exceptions list.
The wizard has also been updated as part of these changes to ensure that your hiring managers are guided through the process and are directed to upload the correct combination of documents.
We implemented these changes at midnight on June 30th 2021.
Read our blog for top tipsAccording to the latest guidance, employers are not required to carry out retrospective checks on EEA employees were employed up to and including 30th June. If the check was conducted correctly, in line with the latest guidance, it will provide employers with a statutory excuse until the end of the staff member’s employment (or the expiry of their permission if sooner).
If you do choose to carry out retrospective checks, you must ensure that you do so in a non-discriminatory manner.
The latest right to work guidance gives further guidance on what to do if, after 30th June 2021, you identify an EEA employee who has not applied to the EU Settlement Scheme by the deadline and does not otherwise hold any form of leave in the UK, following, for example, an internal audit or a voluntary retrospective check. The guidance also includes details of transitional measures which are designed to provide additional flexibility for those staff members until 31st December 2021.
The temporary amendment to guidance which allows checks to be carried out based on scanned copies or photos of original documents is currently planned to continue until April 2022.
The end date for this temporary change has been postponed three times following delays to the easing of lockdown in England.