If you’ve browsed a UK news site in the last week, you’ve probably seen the latest on Labour’s Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.
The UK government's radical new immigration reforms, outlined in the whitepaper “Restoring Control Over the Immigration System”, marks one of the largest changes in UK immigration policy in decades. And it’s going to reshape the hiring landscape for HR and talent acquisition (TA) across every sector.
Whether or not you agree with the bill, the impact on day-to-day operations is going to be significant for many UK businesses, including:
- Ensuring degree qualifications are legitimate
- Confirming employees do have the right to work in the UK
- Aligning with new requirements for skilled worker visas
Let’s break down how.
New requirements for skilled worker visas are one of the biggest changes to the bill
In order to get a skilled worker visa, applicants now have to have at least a university degree.
This effectively closes the door to many roles that were eligible under the points-based system, including roles classified as lower-skilled. The hardest hit industries will be healthcare (already struggling to recruit, and heavily dependent on international hires), construction, and logistics.
It also means that qualification checks take on a new significance for employers. Making sure your applicant has the correct degree qualifications is critical. Every degree needs to be checked carefully to ensure it’s genuine and issued by an accredited institution. The risks associated with diploma mills and forged academic credentials have grown by leaps and bounds over the last few years.
Without a proper verification process, you could:
- Hire ineligible candidates
- Face regulatory penalties
- Risk losing your sponsor license
Complex right to work (RTW) checks
Digitalising certain parts of the RTW process has been great for streamlining many candidates, but the new immigration bill adds complexity.
You’re juggling multiple types of RTW checks at once: processing digital share codes for non-UK nationals with eVisas, manually checking physical documents for UK and Irish nationals (or anyone else not using the digital route), and occasionally relying on the Employer Checking Service (ECS) when online checks aren’t straightforward.
Then there's record-keeping to prove your checks were spot-on and running imposter checks for every hire, whether digital or manual. And let’s not forget the visa re-checks for those on time-limited statuses.
This last point just got trickier, now that Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) typically takes 10 years of UK residency, up from 5. That means more staff stuck on temporary visas for longer, needing multiple visa renewals, and way more re-checking than before. Complicated? Definitely. Confusing? Often.
But skipping steps isn’t an option. The price for mistakes is steep—up to £60,000 per illegal worker—and the Home Office isn’t messing around, with surprise audits and raids ramping up nearly 50% since early 2025. Managing expiring visas and ongoing checks is now critical, especially if your workforce has plenty of international candidates with constantly changing immigration statuses.
Bottom line? RTW compliance just got harder, more frequent, and more high-stakes. Time to double down on your processes, or risk paying a hefty price.
How Zinc can help meet new requirements
We built Zinc to meet your background checking needs, no matter what the government announces. And we want to make sure your background checks run as smoothly and quickly as possible.
Our qualification verification service has global coverage, and we’ve built systems that detect fraud, forged certificates, and fake institutions no matter where a candidate studied.
When it comes to checking RTW, Zinc is certified under the UK Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (UK DIATF). That means our platform meets the highest standards for digital identity and RTW verification so you can be sure that your process is compliant, secure, and ready when you need it.
As well as automating your RTW checks, Zinc flags upcoming re-checks for visas due to expire. That means no more manual tracking and gives you your statutory excuse and peace of mind knowing all checks are in line with current Home Office guidance.
Want to know more about how you can stay ahead of the curve when it comes to background checking requirements? Book a time with the Zinc team.
