A right to work check confirms that someone can legally do the work you offer. It must be done before their first shift. The duty sits with the employer or engager, not the worker. It applies to every person you take on, whatever their nationality.
For a growing event staffing agency, the hard part is scale. Each check must be run correctly and on time. Every record must be ready the moment the Home Office asks.
The rules are strict, and they are about to widen. From 1 October 2026, right to work duties reach further into casual and freelance crew. Agencies managing temporary crew across events and venues carry this weight most heavily.
Keeping that documentation in order starts with one organised central staff database. That is the same place many agencies already track availability and skills. Compliance also sits close to related duties, such as IR35 status for event staff.
What is a right to work check?
A right to work check is how an employer confirms a person can lawfully work in the UK.
The check must happen before employment begins. There is no discretion to defer it. There is no exception for short or one-off shifts. The same duty applies whether crew work one shift or fifty.
The duty sits in the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006. GOV.UK’s employer’s guide to right to work checks explains how to comply. A correct check gives the agency a legal defence. This defence is called a statutory excuse. It applies if a worker is later found working illegally.
The check is the agency’s responsibility, every time, for every crew member.
Who needs a right to work check?
Everyone you employ needs a right to work check. The duty covers all staff, whatever their nationality, ethnicity or accent. Checking only the people who “look” or “sound” foreign is unlawful. It breaches the Equality Act 2010 and removes your statutory excuse.
Consistency matters for a mixed crew pool. A festival supplier might onboard British students, settled workers and visa holders in one week. Each person is checked the same way. You use the method that fits their status.
Settled EU workers who arrived before July 2021 hold a continuous right to work.
The new code of practice, in force from October 2026, restates this consistency duty. GOV.UK also confirms you must not discriminate based on where someone is from.
What are the three types of right to work check?
There are three prescribed ways to carry out a right to work check in 2026. The right method depends on the worker’s status and the documents they hold. The table below compares them.
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| Method | Who it is for | What you check | Indicative cost | Follow-up needed? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manual document check | Any worker with acceptable original documents, including British and Irish citizens | Original List A or List B documents, checked with the person present | No provider fee | Only for time-limited (List B) permission |
| Online check (share code) | Non-British and non-Irish citizens, and eVisa holders | A share code plus the worker’s date of birth, matched to the on-screen photo in real time | Free via GOV.UK | Yes, when permission is time-limited |
| Digital identity check (IDSP or DVS) | British and Irish citizens who hold a passport | Identity confirmed through a certified provider using IDVT | Around £1 to £15 per check | No, for a continuous right to work |
Each method reaches the same goal. The agency confirms identity and permission. It records the result and keeps it safe.
The method changes with the worker’s status. The duty to check does not.
How do you check a right to work share code?
For non-British and non-Irish crew, the online check is the usual right to work check. The worker generates a share code from their UK Visas and Immigration account.
They then give the code to you. A work share code begins with the letter W. It stays valid for 90 days. One code can be reused within that window.
Right to work checks online: what employers must match
You enter the share code and the worker’s date of birth. Both go into the GOV.UK “View a job applicant’s right to work details“ service. The service shows a profile and a photo. You match that photo to the person in real time. This can be in person or over a live video call.
A screenshot of a share code, forwarded by the worker, is not a valid check.
The worker can generate the share code from their own account. Keep the online result as a clear copy and recor
What are right to work digital identity checks?
Right to work digital identity checks confirm a person’s identity through a certified provider. They use Identity Document Validation Technology, or IDVT. This route is for British and Irish citizens who hold a passport. The passport can be current or expired. It suits remote onboarding and high-volume hiring.
The provider is called a Digital Verification Service. From 1 October 2026, it must be registered with the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes. It must also be certified specifically for right to work checks, not identity checks alone.
From the same date, providers can also check expired British and Irish passports. This covers up to six months past the expiry date. Costs are usually small, often around £1 to £15 per check.
The provider does the identity work. The legal responsibility stays with the agency.
How do you carry out a manual right to work check?
A manual check means inspecting a person’s original documents with them present. You confirm the documents are genuine, unchanged and belong to that person. You then take an unalterable copy.
You also record the date of the check. That date must be genuine and contemporaneous. Writing a date on a copy is not enough on its own.
How to check right to work in the UK, step by step
Every compliant right to work check must confirm five things, whatever the method:
- Identity match: the person in front of you is the person in the document or profile.
- Permission to work: their status allows the role, the hours and any conditions.
- Genuine, in-date documents: checked properly and not expired.
- Correct timing: the check was finished before the first shift.
- A record kept: a dated, unalterable copy is on file.
One document type no longer works. Physical biometric residence permits have been replaced by eVisas. An expired BRP cannot be used for a manual check. Ask the worker for a share code instead.
What documents count? List A and List B
Acceptable documents fall into two lists. List A covers a continuous right to work. Examples include a British or Irish passport, or proof of settled status. A List A check needs no follow-up.
List B covers time-limited permission. Here the statutory excuse lasts only as long as that permission. In some cases it lasts six months, where the Home Office confirms status through the Employer Checking Service. List B always triggers a follow-up before the permission expires.
List A is a one-time check. List B is a date you must diarise.
What is a statutory excuse, and how do you keep it?
A statutory excuse is your legal defence against a civil penalty. You earn it by carrying out the check correctly. You must do it before work starts, and keep the evidence. Done properly, it protects the agency. That holds even if the worker is later found to have no right to work.
A late check gives no excuse for the period before it. One day late still counts as late. Timing and record-keeping matter as much as the check itself.
An excuse you cannot evidence on request is an excuse you do not have.
When is a follow-up right to work check needed?
A follow-up is needed whenever a worker has time-limited permission. That means a List B document. You repeat the right to work check shortly before their permission expires.
Miss the date, and the excuse lapses for any work after it. A reliable diary of expiry dates prevents these lapses.
Sometimes a worker cannot yet evidence continued permission. They may have an application or appeal in progress. Pause the work and take advice.
The Employer Checking Service can issue a Positive Verification Notice. This can preserve the right to work while a decision is pending.
What is the penalty for getting a right to work check wrong?
The civil penalty is up to £45,000 per worker for a first breach. It rises to up to £60,000 per worker for a repeat breach within three years. The Home Office can also publish the names of businesses that are fined. An employer has 28 days to respond to a penalty notice.
Knowingly employing someone without the right to work is a criminal offence. It carries an unlimited fine and up to five years in prison. A penalty can also affect a sponsor licence and a company’s public record. A compliant, evidenced process is the practical protection.
Do temporary, casual and freelance crew need right to work checks?
This is the change that matters most for event staffing. From 1 October 2026, the right to work regime reaches beyond employees. It will cover many other working arrangements. Section 48 of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 brings new labour into scope.
That includes gig, zero-hours, casual and individual subcontractor work.
These are exactly the workers event agencies rely on. GOV.UK’s guidance gives a clear example. An employment business that supplies a temporary worker can be responsible for the check.
It can also be liable for the penalty. Liability can even reach along a contracting chain. Managing a large contingent workforce now means checking far more of it.
From October 2026, “they are only casual crew” stops being a reason to skip a check.
How event staffing agencies handle right to work checks at scale
For a single hire, a right to work check is straightforward. The pressure builds during a hiring surge. An agency may run hundreds of checks in days. It then keeps every record retrievable for years. Better temporary workforce tracking stops this becoming unmanageable.
At scale, the admin around the check is where compliance breaks down. Right to work compliance tends to slip in five places:
- Missed expiry dates: List B follow-ups slip when hundreds of records sit in a spreadsheet.
- Inconsistent checks: different coordinators onboard crew differently across sites.
- Scattered records: documents spread across inboxes, drives and paper.
- Slow retrieval: no quick way to produce a record when the Home Office asks.
- Casual crew slipping through: flexible workers move into scope from October 2026.
Liveforce is the workforce management platform that keeps this under control. It is the single source of truth for your crew.
It holds availability, skills and the right to work documentation you already keep. The check still happens through the government routes. Liveforce is where the resulting record lives, organised and easy to find.
Records stay in one place, rather than across inboxes and drives. A coordinator can record document expiry dates against each crew profile. Time-limited permissions then stay visible.
A consistent onboarding process means every site checks crew the same way. When an inspector asks, producing a dated record takes seconds. Audit-readiness, not just the check, is the real goal.
At scale, the record you cannot find is the one that matters.
CASE STUDY STORY:
Complete Works is a UK staffing agency operating across the country. It moved its workforce management off spreadsheets and onto Liveforce.
In the founder’s words, “Liveforce is more organised than we are.” That organisation turns a Home Office request into a quick lookup.
The practical question is simple. Could you produce every right to work check record on demand today? And is your process ready for casual crew coming into scope? Getting those records in order before October 2026 is a decision worth making now.
