Right to work checks adjusted #COVID19 #coronavirus

Right to work checks have been temporarily adjusted due to coronavirus (COVID-19). This is to make it easier for employers…

These changes apply from 30th March 2029 and will end when the crisis is over. Normally employers would need to:

Conducting a right to work check during the temporary COVID-19 measures

• Ask the worker to submit a scanned copy or a photo of their original documents via email or using a mobile app
• Arrange a video call with the worker – ask them to hold up the original documents to the camera and check them against the digital copy of the documents
• Record the date you made the check and mark it as “adjusted check undertaken on [insert date] due to COVID-19”
• If the worker has a current Biometric Residence Permit or Biometric Residence Card or status under the EU Settlement Scheme you can use the online right to work checking service while doing a video call – the applicant must give you permission to view their details

If the job applicant or existing worker cannot show their documents

….”contact the Home Office Employer Checking Service. If the person has a right to work, the Employer Checking Service will send you a ‘Positive Verification Notice’. This provides you with a statutory excuse for 6 months …”

After the COVID-19 measures end

The Home Office “will let you know in advance when these measures will end. After that date, you should follow the checking process set out in right to work checks: an employer’s guide.”

You will be asked to carry out retrospective checks on existing employees who:

• started working for you during these measures
• required a follow-up right to work check during these measures You should mark this check: “the individual’s contract commenced on [insert date]. The prescribed right to work check was undertaken on [insert date] due to COVID-19.”

The retrospective check must be carried out within 8 weeks of the COVID-19 measures ending. Both checks should be kept for your records.

The Home Office will not take any enforcement action against you if you carried out the adjusted check set out in this guidance, or a check via the Home Office, and follow this up with the retrospective check.

If, at the point of carrying out the retrospective check, you find your employee does not have permission to be in the UK you must end their employment….

PAYadvice.UK 30/3/2020