Back in March 2020, in what feels like an age ago, adjustments to the right to work checks employers had to undertake were introduced as part of the response to coronavirus (COVID-19).  Those adjustments finally end on 30 September 2022 and a new regime commences.

The end date for the temporary adjusted checks had previously been deferred to 30 September 2022. The date was deferred following the government’s announcement enabling the use of identification document validation technology (IDVT) from 6 April 2022 by employers carrying out digital checks on British and Irish citizens who hold a valid passport.

Deferring the end date was so that employers had sufficient time to develop commercial relationships with identity service providers, make the necessary changes to their pre-employment checking processes and carry out on-boarding of their chosen provider.

It has also ensured that the right to work scheme has continued to support long-term, post-pandemic working practices,   where many employers now prefer to check the identity of their employees remotely - but at the same time recognising that the adjusted measures during the last 30 months or so have not been robust and have left scope for either deliberate abuse of the system, or more likely, the inadvertent employing of individuals who do not have the genuine right to work in law (yet, or at all). 

From 1 October 2022, employers must now carry out one of the following prescribed checks before employment commences:

Conducting any of these checks will provide employers with a 'statutory excuse' which is a defence against a civil penalty.