Employers have a duty to prevent illegal working in the UK by carrying out prescribed document checks on people before employing them to ensure they are lawfully allowed to work. These checks should be repeated in respect of those who have time-limited permission to work in the UK.

On 16 May 2014, changes came into force to strengthen and simplify the civil penalty scheme for employers, and this includes some changes to the document checks employers are required to undertake. This guidance was amended in July and December 2014 and May 2015 to provide further clarification to the scheme.

As part of Cataphract Right to Work Checks, we take the responsibility of verifying their right to work and the ownership on behalf of HR divisions. We store all relevant data on our white label system for managers and HR divisions to log in and check record and expiry dates.

Guide to right to work checks

  • Documents are genuine, original and unchanged and belong to the person who has given them to you

  • Dates for the applicant’s right to work in the UK hasn’t expired

  • Photos are the same across all documents and look like the applicant

  • Dates of birth are the same across all documents

  • The applicant has permission to do the type of work you are offering  in accordance with their tier level visa (including any limit on the number of hours they can work)

  • For students you see evidence of their study and vacation times

  • If 2 documents give different names, the applicant has supporting documents showing why they’re different, eg a marriage certificate or divorce decree

Data stored on our white label system

  • Passports, a copy of any page with the expiry date and applicant’s details (nationality, date of birth and photograph etc) including endorsements, eg a work visa

  • Both sides of bio-metric residence permits and residence cards (bio-metric format),

  • Complete copy of all other relevant documents

  • We will keep copies during the applicant’s employment and for 2 years after they stop working for you

  • Official record the date the check was made, who present and employee sign off.

PENALTY TO EMPLOYERS

Its a civil offence to employ someone who doesn't have the correct documents and legal right to work in the UK

You could get fined £20,000

You can be sent to jail for 5 years and pay an unlimited fine if you’re found guilty of employing someone who you knew or had ‘reasonable cause to believe’ didn’t have the right to work in the UK.

This includes, for example, if you had any reason to believe that:

They didn’t have leave (permission) to enter or remain in the UK

Their leave had expired

They weren’t allowed to do certain types of work

Their papers were incorrect or false

Contact the team to discuss