A Right to Work Check Record is a formal document that an employer in England and Wales uses to record the completion of a mandatory pre-employment identity and immigration status check under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006. The check establishes whether a prospective or existing employee has the legal right to work in the United Kingdom, and the record of that check is the primary evidence by which the employer demonstrates compliance with its statutory obligations under sections 15 to 25 of that Act.

The duty to check the right to work of every person employed in the UK was originally introduced by the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 and has been substantially expanded and strengthened by subsequent legislation. The Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 introduced the current civil penalty regime, under which an employer who employs an illegal worker without having conducted a compliant right to work check may be subject to a civil penalty of up to £60,000 per worker. Knowingly employing an illegal worker is a more serious criminal offence under section 21 of the same Act, carrying the potential for an unlimited fine and up to five years' imprisonment for individuals responsible for the breach.

The Immigration Act 2014 further developed the right to work framework, introducing the online Right to Work checking service that is now mandatory for a significant proportion of the workforce — including all EEA and EU nationals and their family members, Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) holders, and those with status granted under the EU Settlement Scheme. From 6 April 2022, these individuals can no longer demonstrate their right to work through physical documents alone; employers must use the online service at www.gov.uk/prove-right-to-work to verify their status.

A Right to Work Check Record captures all the information the employer must document: the identity of the employer; the name, date of birth, and nationality of the employee; the type of document inspected or the nature of the online check conducted; the document reference number and expiry date; the date the check was carried out; the right to work status established (unlimited, time-limited, or student); any applicable work restrictions; the identity of the person who carried out the check; and — where applicable — the date by which a follow-up check must be completed. Retaining this record provides the employer with a contemporaneous audit trail demonstrating that a statutory right to work check was conducted before employment commenced.

A Right to Work Check Record must be completed before every new employee commences employment in England and Wales, without exception. The obligation under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 applies to every employer regardless of size, sector, or the nature of the employment relationship — whether the worker is full-time, part-time, fixed-term, casual, or engaged on a zero-hours contract.

The most critical requirement is timing: the check must be conducted and the record completed before the individual starts work. An employer who discovers that an employee does not have the right to work after employment has commenced cannot retrospectively obtain the benefit of the statutory excuse by conducting the check at that point. The statutory excuse — the complete defence against a civil penalty — is only available to an employer who checked before the employment began.

A follow-up check record must also be completed whenever the initial check revealed a time-limited right to work. This applies to workers holding List B Group 1 documents (such as a Biometric Residence Permit or visa with a future expiry date), for whom the repeat check must be completed before the expiry of the document or leave. It also applies to List B Group 2 documents (such as a Positive Verification Notice from the Home Office Employer Checking Service), for which the repeat check must be conducted within six months of the date of the initial check.

A new check record should also be completed when an employee's circumstances change in a way that affects their right to work — for example, when a time-limited visa is renewed, when an employee changes their immigration status, or when a previously time-limited worker is granted indefinite leave to remain (in which case their status upgrades to an unlimited right to work and no further follow-up checks will be required).

Employers in certain regulated sectors face additional requirements. Those holding a premises licence under the Licensing Act 2003 must ensure that all staff have the right to work before engaging them. Sponsors holding a sponsor licence under the UK points-based immigration system must maintain a right to work checking and monitoring system as a condition of their licence. Failure to comply with right to work obligations can result in licence suspension or revocation by the Home Office. This record assists all employers — licenced or otherwise — in demonstrating systematic compliance.

A compliant Right to Work Check Record for use in England and Wales must contain several essential elements to provide the employer with a statutory excuse under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 and to satisfy the evidentiary requirements of the Home Office Employer's Right to Work Checking Guide.

The employer identification section records the full legal name and address of the employer. This is important because the statutory excuse and any civil penalty relate to the employing entity. Where a business operates through multiple legal entities, each entity must conduct its own check for the workers it employs.

The employee details section records the employee's full legal name exactly as it appears on the identity document, their date of birth, nationality, and the role for which they are being engaged. The name comparison between the individual and the document is a fundamental step in the check — establishing that the document belongs to the person in front of the employer — and the record must reflect that this comparison was made.

The documents verified section is the technical core of the record. It must state the type of document inspected (identifying it as a List A or List B document), the document's reference number (passport number, BRP number, or similar), and the document's expiry date where applicable. Where an online check was conducted, the share code provided by the employee and the outcome shown on the Home Office checking service must be recorded. The checker must confirm that a clear copy of the document or the online result page has been retained.

The right to work status section records the outcome of the check — whether the employee has an unlimited or time-limited right to work, any specific conditions on the right to work (such as the 20-hour weekly limit applicable to student visa holders), and whether a follow-up check is required. If a follow-up is required, the date by which it must be conducted should be prominently recorded to ensure it is not missed.

The checker certification section records who conducted the check, their position within the organisation, the date the check was conducted, and the method used (manual document inspection, online share code check, or IDVT). This attribution is important — it demonstrates that a real person with authority was responsible for the check and that it was not conducted after the employment commenced. The completed record must be retained on the employee's HR file for the duration of employment and for two years after the employment ends.