From Thursday 1st October 2026, the right-to-work regime reaches far beyond traditional employees.

The change matters because many organisations have built their compliance processes around payroll. HR checks employees before they start work, keeps the evidence and carries out follow-up checks where necessary. Meanwhile, contractors, workers and other non-employees may sit elsewhere in the business.

That distinction becomes much less comfortable from October.

What is changing?

The Right to Work Scheme will extend beyond employees to cover people engaged under worker contracts, individual subcontractors and certain people providing services through online matching platforms.

The rules also introduce extended liability in some contractual chains. An organisation may face liability even if it has no direct contractual relationship with the individual working illegally.

The detail depends on how the arrangement operates. Labels will not decide the issue. Calling someone ‘self-employed’ or a ‘contractor’ does not settle whether the Scheme applies.

There are important limits. Someone genuinely running an independent business and contracting directly with customers can fall outside the Scheme. The Government guidance also gives the example of a client engaging a graphic designer through the designer’s own personal service company as an arrangement where the client does not need to carry out a right to work check.

What does this mean in practice?

This is not simply an HR compliance change. It is a workforce and supply-chain issue.

You must ask:

• Who works for us?
• How do we engage them?
• What is our contractual relationship?

That may require HR, procurement, operations and legal teams to compare notes.

Extended liability also means that contractual protection alone may not be enough. Where the provisions apply, the Home Office guidance says organisations should be able to show that appropriate arrangements operate effectively in practice and that they have taken reasonable and proportionate steps to satisfy themselves that right to work requirements are being met.

That makes evidence important.

The consequences of getting this wrong are significant. An employer found employing someone illegally without the prescribed checks can face a civil penalty of up to £60,000 per illegal worker. Other consequences can include reputational damage and restrictions on sponsoring migrant workers. Serious cases can carry criminal sanctions.

The reassuring email from a supplier saying ‘we deal with all that’ may therefore need rather more behind it.

What should you do?

Map your workforce
Identify employees, workers, individual subcontractors, platform workers and other individuals providing services.
Review contractual chains
Work out who engages whom, who performs the work and whether subcontracting or substitution is permitted.

Check contracts entered from Thursday 1st October 2026

Where extended liability applies, the guidance specifies contractual requirements covering right-to-work checks, further subcontracting, audit rights, enforcement, and cooperation with Home Office investigations.
Test the process, not just the paperwork
Make sure you follow contractual obligations and can produce evidence if challenged.
Keep checks consistent
Do not make assumptions based on nationality, accent, surname or perceived immigration status. Selective right-to-work compliance can create discrimination risk.

From October, the question for senior leaders is no longer: ‘Does HR carry out right-to-work checks?’ It is, ‘Do we know who is working throughout our business, how they got there and whether our controls work?’

Source: Draft employer’s guide to right to work checks: 11 September 2026 (accessible) – GOV.UK