A right to work check confirms that an individual has the legal right to work in the UK. It’s mandatory that all employers check RTW for every employee. Failure to check RTW can result in civil penalties of up to £60,000 per illegal employee, or criminal sanctions of up to five years in jail and unlimited fines.

A right to work check confirms the identity of the individual and checks that their documents are valid. If applicable, it also checks if they have the correct immigration status to legally work in the UK. 

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Depending on the individual, a RTW check may require:

• A UK or Irish passport
• A UK birth or adoption certificate
• An Irish birth or adoption certificate
• A certificate of registration or naturalisation as a British citizen
• A sharecode

Using the new IDVT technology, Zinc verifies British and Irish passport holders through the government's online system. Candidates without these passports can opt for submitting their share code.

You must keep a record of every document you have checked to confirm a person's right to work in the UK. This can be a hard copy or a scanned copy in a format that cannot be manually altered, such as a JPEG or PDF document. You should store the copies securely for the duration of the person's employment and for a further two years after they stop working for you.

Here are some additional details about record keeping:

You should also be able to produce these document copies quickly if requested to show them to demonstrate that you have performed a right to work check and retain a statutory excuse. You must also note the date on which you conducted the check. You must keep the records in a safe place where they cannot be tampered with. You must not destroy the records during the required retention period. You must make the records available to the Home Office if they request them. Failure to keep adequate records of right to work checks can result in fines or other penalties.

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Yes, our employee background screening software can integrate with your existing ATS or HRIS platforms. We currently integrate with over 14 ATS platforms such as Greenhouse, SmartRecruiters, and Workable, for seamless processing of education checks. Find our full list of integrations here.

Our background check software complies with all relevant regulations when conducting right to work checks. We are listed as one of the UK government’s IDSPs on the Trust Framework, which ensures we follow strict security standards. Additionally, we are ISO 27001-certified, and our information security management system has been rigorously tested and audited. Our platform supports multiple paths for UK right to work checks, including the share code option, while maintaining a secure and compliant environment for your data.