Right to work checks in the UK are expected to change from October 2026, extending beyond employees to contractors, agency workers and others engaged through third parties. The details are still developing, but the direction is clear: the population you are responsible for checking widens, and the hardest part is seeing your whole workforce, not the check itself. Preparing now means knowing who is working for you, and under which contract, before the rules land.
This guide explains what is changing, who comes into scope, who is responsible for the check and how to prepare.
Are right to work rules changing in 2026?
Yes. Right to work obligations are expected to widen beyond direct employees to include casual and zero-hours workers, and likely contractors and workers supplied by third parties who are deployed under a business's direction. The change is anticipated from October 2026. The finer detail is still emerging, so the current position is best read as a direction of travel rather than a settled set of rules.
Who comes into scope?
The population you may be responsible for checking widens. Alongside employees, it is expected to reach casual and zero-hours workers, and contractors, agency and platform workers who are directed by your business rather than delivering a genuinely contracted-out service.
When do the right to work changes take effect?
The changes are anticipated from October 2026, though the finer detail is still being confirmed. It is sensible to prepare now rather than wait for every point to settle, because the hardest part of readiness, seeing your whole workforce, takes the longest.
Why is this harder than it sounds?
For most organisations the challenge is not the check itself, it is visibility. The workers reached through suppliers and contracted-out services are typically the least visible population in a business. Most employers can provide evidence checks for their employees. Far fewer can say with confidence who is on site or in their systems through a supplier today, under which contract and through which entity. Once you can see the workforce, the checks are largely a process.
Right to Work and IR35: a similar question
Right to work and IR35 are separate tests, but they fall on a similar and widening population, and one question helps with both. Are you buying an outcome, a genuine contracted-out service where the provider controls the workers? Or are you receiving a supply of labour, individuals deployed into and directed by your business? Where it is a genuine contracted-out service, the obligation generally sits with the provider. Where it is a supply of labour, it is more likely to fall to you.
Who is responsible for carrying out the check?
Where a supplier delivers a genuine contracted-out service, responsibility generally sits with the provider. Where the arrangement is really a supply of labour, it is more likely to fall to the end client. Even where the check is not strictly your obligation, the expectation is that you can evidence appropriate due diligence, that you have seen and hold confirmation that it was done. Relying on the assumption that a supplier will have carried out the check is unlikely to be enough, and contractual flow-down, while useful, is unlikely to be sufficient on its own.
What are the penalties for getting it wrong?
Under the current illegal working regime, civil penalties can reach up to £60,000 per worker, and enforcement has risen sharply in recent years. While the detail of the widened regime is still developing, the direction is towards a broader population and continued firm enforcement, which is why visibility of the wider workforce matters now rather than later.
How should employers prepare?
The practical response is consistent whatever the final detail and it is worth reading alongside the Home Office employer's guide to right to work checks. Build a single register of your external workforce, showing who is doing what, under which contract and through which entity. Gather evidence in advance rather than at the gate, validated before workers arrive or start and held on record. Triage at the point of engagement, so each request is guided into what it actually is and the right checks follow. Back contractual flow-down with an audit trail. And give line managers light education on when and why checks are needed.
How CoComply can help
The hardest part of right to work readiness is knowing who your external workers are. CoComply helps large organisations classify, route and control their external workforce, so the visibility is there before the deadline and the evidence is on record engagement by engagement. You can download our short Right to Work briefing, or book a workforce risk review for a straight read on where your gaps are.
