As an employer, you are obligated to ensure you only employ people who have the right to work in the UK and in a particular role.
To ensure compliance with prevention from illegal working legislation, employers are required to carry out pre-employment right to work checks on all recruits.
The current laws regarding pre-employment checks on foreign recruits is due to change from 6 April 2022.
Previously, there were three different methods of checking a recruit’s right to work in the UK including:
- Online right to work checks
- Manual or physical right to work checks
- Virtual adjusted right to work checks, introduced temporarily during the start of the pandemic, permitting scanned or digital copies of documents and viewing documents via video link
From 6 April 2022, biometric resident permit and card holders and frontier worker permit holders, will only be able to evidence their right to work in the UK by using the Home Office’s free UKVI (UK Visas and Immigration) online service. Conducting manual checks by using a physical card will no longer be permitted.
Follow up checks must also be carried out in accordance with the employer right to work checks guidance.
Failure to carry out the appropriate checks can result in civil and criminal penalties, including but not limited to, the following:
- A civil penalty up to £20,000 per illegal worker
- A criminal conviction carrying a prison sentence up to five years and an unlimited fine
- Business closure
Clearly, it pays to carry out the correct checks!
Impression works with businesses across the automotive aftermarket supply chain such as parts suppliers, warehouse distributors, motor factors and independent garages. Covering all aspects of automotive aftermarket marketing, including social media, event management, customer newsletters and PR, Impression is able to quickly establish itself within a client’s business and work towards their objectives.
