Right to Work checks – Important Changes from 1 October 2026

The following important changes to the UK's Right to Work requirements take effect from, 1 October 2026.

What has changed?

Until now, the statutory Right to Work checking regime has primarily applied to employees. From 1 October 2026, the requirements are extended and can also apply where a business engages:

• Individuals under a worker's contract;

• Individual subcontractors who personally undertake work; and

• Individuals providing services through certain online matching or platform arrangements.

This means that businesses should no longer assume that someone described as "self-employed", a "freelancer" or a "subcontractor" automatically falls outside the Right to Work checking regime.

The new requirements generally apply to relevant employment or engagements commencing on or after 1 October 2026.

What about employees of subcontractors?

There is an important distinction between engaging an individual subcontractor directly and contracting with another business which employs its own staff.

If you directly engage an individual subcontractor to personally undertake work for your business, the new Right to Work requirements may apply and you may need to undertake a Right to Work check on that individual.

However, if you contract with an established subcontracting company and that company sends its own employees to undertake the work, you will not normally be required to carry out a separate Right to Work check on each of those employees simply because they are working at your premises or on your behalf.

For example, if you contract with ABC Cleaning Ltd to provide cleaning services and ABC employs the cleaners who attend your premises, ABC Cleaning Ltd, as their employer, is responsible for carrying out the appropriate Right to Work checks. You would not normally need to duplicate those checks yourself.

By contrast, if you directly engage an individual self-employed cleaner to personally provide cleaning services to your business, the new requirements may apply to that individual.

There are also new provisions which can potentially extend liability within certain contractual and subcontracting arrangements. Businesses using subcontractors should therefore ensure that their contracts require the subcontractor to carry out appropriate Right to Work checks on everyone they employ or engage to deliver the services and to confirm compliance when requested.

What should businesses do now?

We recommend reviewing:

• Any self-employed individuals, freelancers or individual subcontractors being engaged from 1 October 2026 onwards;

• Arrangements where individuals personally provide services to your business;

• Contracts with companies that provide employees or other personnel to undertake work for you;

• Arrangements involving multiple levels of subcontracting; and

• Your standard supplier and subcontractor terms to ensure appropriate Right to Work obligations are included.

Importantly, these changes do not mean that you need to carry out Right to Work checks on every employee of every contractor or supplier who undertakes work for your business. The nature of the contractual relationship is important in determining where responsibility sits.

If you are unsure whether the new requirements apply to any of your contractors, subcontractors or workers, please contact us and we can review the particular arrangement with you.

For more information, get in touch.