Digitalise your "Right to Work" Process With Digital Identity Checks

Are you hiring individuals in the UK? One of the most important steps to get right is the Right to Work check.

Key takeaways

• It's a legal requirement: All UK employers are legally required to perform a Right to Work check to prevent illegal working.

• Digital is the new norm: Following temporary COVID-19 measures, digital verification using certified technology is now a permanent option for British and Irish citizens with valid passports.

• Two main methods: The two primary ways to conduct a check are through a digital service (using an IDSP) or via the Home Office's online "Share Code" service for non-UK and non-Irish citizens.

• Fines are high: Failure to comply with the guidelines can result in significant fines, up to £60,000 per illegal worker.

• Robust record-keeping is essential: Employers must retain a clear audit trail of all checks for the duration of a person's employment and for two years after it ends.

What is the “Right to Work” check?

Organisations that employ people in the UK must carry out a Right to Work check on all individuals to prevent illegal working. This process is a legal requirement that adds a verification step to the hiring process. ‘Right to Work’ checks have increased manual processes and tasks throughout the hiring process for many companies and can be an intensive process for HR teams with multiple candidates.

However, in October 2022, the temporary legislation that was introduced during COVID-19 to enable employers to use digital identity document validation technology (IDVT) as part of their remote Right to Work checks, was made permanent by the Home Office.

Right to Work checks online

Now, certified digital identity service providers (IDSP) are permitted to carry out digital identity verification as part of a “Right to Work Check” during the job application process.

Read on to discover more about digitising the ‘Right to Work’ process and how this can make the whole employment process seamless.

Home office Right to Work check

Companies require a robust digital 'Right to Work' process to avoid additional administrative tasks throughout the job application process, or potential fines for incomplete employment checks.

There are stringent government guidelines to follow when performing these checks, and a comprehensive audit trail is required. From the start of 2024, fines of up to £60,000 per worker can be imposed if employers are found to have breached guidelines. It’s important to make the process as simple and effective as possible for your organisation as you onboard candidates, and that’s where going digital can help.

Using digital ID verification

A digital ‘Right to Work’ process can help you automate identity verification, so the entire process takes place online, reducing manual tasks and data entry into multiple systems unnecessarily.

If your organisation recruits multiple candidates, you can see how going digital soon escalates into big savings.

Implementing a digital ‘Right to Work’ process can also provide a more robust audit trail of all individuals that have been verified, and better candidate onboarding experiences.

What is required for a Right to Work check?

Conducting a ‘Right to Work’ check using an IDSP

The process of conducting a ‘Right to Work’ check in person, through the Home Office, or using an IDSP, is slightly different. When using an IDSP, you are using a secure, government-approved online platform to verify a candidate's identity to determine eligibility to work in the country.

Rather than requiring the candidate to attend an in-person meeting to perform all the necessary checks, the candidate is able to upload their identity document and perform biometric checks remotely, thus streamlining the entire onboarding process. Once the system successfully completes the verification process, the employer is notified and can let their candidate commence their employment.

What is a Right to Work document?

As per Home Office guidance , the use of IDSP technology limits the scope of these Right to Work checks to only people with valid British and Irish Passports (and Irish Passport Cards). Should a company wish to carry out a Right to Work check on a prospective candidate who does not this type of right to work document, they should use the Home Office Share Code service .

It is also important to note that as part of the ‘Right to Work’ regulation, you must retain a clear copy of the output delivered by the digital identity document validation technology (IDVT) used, for the duration of the candidates’ employment, plus two years after their employment has come to an end. This is to ensure that should you be audited at any point, you have clear evidence that ‘Right to Work’ checks were carried out for all your candidates, past and present.

Digitising the Right to Work process with Docusign Intelligent Agreement Management (IAM)

Through the Docusign IAM platform, you have access to a pre-built Maestro workflow template enabling you to embed digital Right to Work checks to any stage of your onboarding process.

How do you get a digital ID in the UK?

For UK and Irish candidates, we have integrated our partner, Onfido’s, identity verification functionality to conduct the digital identity verification check. Onfido is a UK government-certified IDSP and can support our customers’ Right to Work demands. Once deployed, the online solution can help automate previously manual processes, reducing the amount of time your organisation needs to spend confirming new candidates’ identities and cross-referencing data as part of the job application process.

Right to Work share code

For non-UK and Irish candidates, the Maestro workflow includes the following options:

• For candidates with a Share Code already generated: They will be required to input their Share Code into an online Web Form, which is securely captured and made available to the employer for external validation

• For candidates without a Share Code already generated: Given this process must be completed through the Home Office Share Code service, they will be pointed to it and advised to contact the employer when their Share Code has been successfully generated. They can then upload their Share Code into the workflow via the option listed above

How do you verify identity and right to work in the UK?

Thanks to the Docusign IAM platform, the entire process of checking a candidates’ legal eligibility to work is simple. Within the context of an HR team, in the digitised process an HR business partner generates a link based on the pre-built Maestro workflow and sends it to the candidate.

For the employer, proof of the identity verification (i.e. personal information, photo of the Passport, copy of the biometric video) and the Share Code is securely captured and stored within the Docusign platform for easy access. Employers can also configure the workflow to automatically export the identity information to a third-party platform.

Right to Work check guide

DISCLAIMER: The information in this article is for general information purposes only and is not intended to serve as legal advice. Laws governing the subject matter may change quickly, so Docusign cannot guarantee that all the information on this site is current or correct. Should you have specific legal questions about any of the information on this site, you should consult with a licensed attorney in your area.