When Your Employee Doesn't Have The Right To Work…

Ensuring that employees have the right to work is an area that can often trip up employers, and getting it wrong can result in serious consequences including large fines and even prison time.

With the Home Office resource overstretched causing delays in obtaining visas, including those already in employment in the UK seeking to renew their visas, we look at common problems faced by employers in this area, and how to best deal with them.

What is Right to Work?

All employees must have the right to live and work in the UK in the role they are employed to do. It is unlawful to employ someone who does not have such rights, or is in breach of their conditions of stay. All employers are responsible for preventing illegal working and to do so should carry out "right to work" checks on all employees. If a right to work check is carried out correctly, the employer will receive a statutory excuse from a civil penalty, if it is later found that they have been