In the United Kingdom, it is a legal requirement for employers to check that their employees have the right to work in the country. This includes verifying candidates immigration status and any necessary work permits or visas. Failing to do so can result in a civil penalty of up to £20,000 per worker. New laws that came in October 2021 state that you must use an identity verification provider (IDVT) like Zinc when checking right-to-work remotely.
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.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 hardcopy or a scanned copy in a format that cannot be manually altered, such as a JPEG or PDF document. You should keep the copies securely for the duration of the person's employment and for a further two years after they stop working for you. You should also be able to produce these document copies quickly in the event that you are requested to show them to demonstrate that you have performed a right to work check and retain a statutory excuse.You must also make a note of the date on which you conducted the check.Here are some additional details about record keeping: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 records of right to work checks can result in fines or other penalties.