The proposed changes would broaden the range of working arrangements within the right to work system, including certain freelancers, individual contractors, casual workers, and people who find work through digital platforms.
For businesses, this could mark an important shift. Describing someone as self-employed, a freelancer, or an independent contractor may no longer be enough to place the arrangement outside the statutory checking regime.
The changes are particularly relevant to companies that rely on subcontractors, platform workers, short-term labour or flexible staffing models. Their potential impact, however, extends well beyond delivery platforms and other sectors usually associated with the gig economy.
Businesses should begin by identifying who performs work on their behalf, how those individuals are engaged and whether existing onboarding systems are ready for the proposed rules.
Important: The expanded regime is expected to take effect from 1 October 2026, but businesses should check the final regulations and updated Home Office guidance before implementation.
What is a right to work check?
A right to work check confirms that an individual is legally permitted to work in the UK. It also allows a business to establish whether the person’s immigration status places any restrictions on the type of work they may undertake.
Under the current system, employers must carry out the appropriate check before an employee starts work.
The correct process depends on the individual’s nationality and immigration status. It may involve:
- checking the eligible original documents
- using the Home Office online checking service with a share code
- using an approved identity service provider
The employer must also confirm that the person presenting the documents is the person applying for the role. Any restrictions on their work must be reviewed, and a clear record of the check must be retained. Where the person has time-limited permission to work, the employer will usually need to complete a follow-up check before that permission expires.
Following the prescribed process correctly can give the employer a statutory excuse against a civil penalty if the individual is later found to have been working illegally.
What is expected to change in October 2026?
The current statutory regime is primarily designed around conventional employer-employee relationships.
Different considerations currently apply when a business engages agency workers, freelancers, consultants or contractors. The proposed reforms are intended to address this gap by extending checking duties to a broader range of working arrangements.
The government has focused in particular on businesses that allocate work outside standard employment contracts. This includes digital platforms and arrangements involving individual subcontractors. The aim is to prevent organisations from avoiding responsibility simply because the person carrying out the work has been described as self-employed.
In practice, the legal analysis is likely to look beyond the title used in the contract. The more important questions may include:
- who provides the work
- who performs it
- whether the individual provides the service personally
- which business benefits from the work
- whether another person can perform the work in their place
The final regulations will need to define precisely which relationships are covered and where responsibility will sit.
Who could be affected by the expanded rules?
The reforms are often discussed in relation to food delivery and other forms of platform work. However, their scope may be considerably wider.
Potentially affected arrangements could include:
- couriers and drivers receiving work through apps
- casual and temporary workers
- individual subcontractors
- freelancers who personally provide services
- workers operating through digital platforms
- substitutes using another person’s account
- workers supplied through certain intermediaries
- short-term contractors engaged directly by a business
Sectors likely to require particular attention include transport, delivery, construction, hospitality, cleaning, warehousing, retail, beauty services and other industries that rely heavily on subcontracted or flexible labour. That does not necessarily mean every commercial supplier or business-to-business contract will be treated in the same way.
Purchasing a service from an established company with its own workforce may differ from engaging an individual who personally performs the work for the client. The distinction will depend on the final rules and the practical nature of the arrangement.
Businesses should therefore avoid making broad assumptions. It may be equally unsafe to assume that every supplier must be checked or that every self-employed person will remain outside the regime.
Why is the government extending right to work checks?
One of the main concerns behind the reform is illegal work facilitated by subcontracting arrangements and online platforms. Account sharing has attracted particular attention.
For example, a person with permission to work may register with a platform and then allow someone else to use the account. The individual who actually completes the delivery or assignment may never have undergone the original identity and immigration checks.
The proposed rules are intended to prevent responsibility from ending with the named account holder. Businesses may need to establish who is actually performing the work and verify that person’s right to work, including where substitution is permitted. The changes also reflect the Home Office’s wider focus on illegal working and business compliance.
Organisations that benefit from a person’s labour may face greater scrutiny, even where they have deliberately kept the relationship outside a formal employment structure. For many companies, right to work compliance will therefore become an operational issue rather than a process limited to permanent employees and the HR department.
How are right to work checks carried out?
The exact procedure for contractors, freelancers and platform workers will need to be confirmed in updated Home Office guidance. However, the central principles of the current system are likely to remain relevant. Before an individual begins work, a business may need to:
- Confirm the person’s identity.
- Establish that they have the right to work in the UK.
- Check that their immigration status permits the work being offered.
- Review any limits on working hours or permitted activities.
- Keep evidence showing when and how the check was completed.
- Arrange a follow-up check to confirm whether the individual has temporary permission to work.
Where the Home Office online service is available, the individual provides a share code that allows the organisation to view their immigration status. British and Irish citizens generally prove their right to work through eligible identity documents or an approved identity service provider, rather than through a Home Office share code. Simply obtaining a passport scan is not enough. The organisation must follow the prescribed process, verify the person’s identity and retain the required evidence.
What about freelancers working remotely from overseas?
A different analysis may apply where a freelancer provides all services from outside the UK.
The right to work regime concerns work carried out in the UK. A contractor who genuinely lives and works abroad may therefore be in a different position from someone physically providing services within the country.
Nevertheless, remote working arrangements should still be reviewed carefully. Businesses should establish:
- where the individual is actually based
- where the services are carried out
- whether the person travels to the UK for work
- whether the written contract reflects the practical arrangement
Other legal and tax issues may also arise, including employment status, local labour law, the risk of a permanent establishment, and cross-border taxation.
A right to work review should therefore sit within a broader assessment of the arrangement.
Will a right to work check make a contractor an employee?
Carrying out a right-to-work check should not, by itself, turn a genuine contractor into an employee. Immigration compliance and employment status are separate legal questions. A business may be required to verify that someone has permission to work while continuing to engage that person on a self-employed basis.
However, reviewing the arrangement may reveal wider concerns. A person may be described as self-employed in the contract but work fixed hours, operate under close supervision and have no genuine ability to provide a substitute. In that situation, the business may need to consider whether the contractual label reflects the reality of the relationship. The new checking duties should not be treated as a replacement for a proper employment status or IR35 review where one is required.
What are the penalties for illegal working?
Under the current illegal working regime, a business can receive a civil penalty of up to £60,000 for each person found to be working illegally where the correct check was not carried out.
More serious consequences may apply where a person is employed despite the business knowing, or having reasonable cause to believe, that they do not have the right to work.
These can include:
- an unlimited fine
- up to five years’ imprisonment
- publication of the organisation’s details
- business closure measures
- director disqualification
- reputational damage
- difficulty securing contracts
For licensed sponsors, weaknesses in right to work procedures may also attract wider Home Office scrutiny. Sponsor duties and right to work obligations are separate, but failures in one area may raise questions about the organisation’s overall approach to immigration compliance.
What should businesses do before October 2026?
Businesses should not wait until the final weeks before implementation to assess whether the new rules may apply to them.
Audit everyone who performs work for the organisation
Begin by creating a complete record of the people carrying out work for the business, not only those included on the payroll.
This may include:
- employees
- casual workers
- agency staff
- consultants
- individual subcontractors
- freelancers
- platform-based workers
The purpose of the audit is to identify working relationships that may currently sit outside standard employee onboarding procedures.
Review how the work is carried out in practice
Written contracts should be compared with the reality of the arrangement.
Particular attention should be paid to:
- personal service requirements
- substitution clauses
- account sharing
- the use of assistants
- arrangements in which someone other than the named contractor completes the work
A carefully drafted agreement will not resolve the issue if the practical relationship operates differently.
Decide who is responsible for the checks
The business should identify who will complete right to work checks, who will deal with complex cases and where the evidence will be stored.
Responsibility may sit with HR, procurement, operations or platform management. What matters is that the process remains consistent across the organisation.
Establish a written checking procedure
A clear internal process should explain:
- when a check is required
- which checking method should be used
- what evidence must be retained
- how immigration restrictions should be recorded
- when follow-up checks are needed
- what to do if someone cannot demonstrate their right to work
The procedure should apply across all relevant departments rather than only to conventional recruitment.
Monitor expiry dates
Where an individual has temporary permission to work, the expiry date should be recorded and a follow-up check scheduled in advance. An initial check may not protect the business indefinitely. Relying on individuals to remember and report their own expiry dates can leave the organisation exposed.
Review third-party platforms and suppliers
Businesses using apps, agencies, labour providers or subcontracting chains should establish who completes the right to work check. They should also review whether the contractual allocation of responsibility will satisfy the proposed legal requirements. It may not be enough to assume that an intermediary has dealt with the matter, particularly where the business cannot verify who is actually carrying out the work.
Train the relevant teams
Managers who onboard contractors and external workers should understand that right to work obligations may extend beyond traditional recruitment. Training should also address discrimination. Checks must be applied consistently. They should not be carried out selectively based on a person’s name, accent, nationality or appearance.
A broader shift in UK immigration enforcement
The proposed extension of right to work checks forms part of a wider move towards closer scrutiny of businesses operating in the UK labour market.
The distinction between employees, contractors and platform workers will remain legally important. However, businesses may no longer be able to assume that immigration responsibility follows exactly the same boundaries as employment status.
For many organisations, the most difficult part will not be completing an individual check. It will be identifying every part of the business where people perform work without going through the usual employee onboarding process.
Companies that map these relationships early, assign clear responsibility and introduce reliable record-keeping will be better placed to respond when the final rules take effect.
How Goldman Solutions can help
Goldman Solutions supports UK businesses with right to work compliance, immigration processes and the management of international workers.
We can help your organisation:
- review its employee and contractor structure
- identify arrangements that may fall within the expanded regime
- assess existing right to work procedures
- develop compliant onboarding and follow-up systems
- train the people responsible for carrying out checks
- prepare for wider Home Office scrutiny
If your business works with freelancers, contractors, temporary workers or platform-based service providers, now is the time to review how those arrangements are managed.
