Extended Right to Work liability is here: act now to reduce your organisation’s exposure to civil penalties

From 1 October 2026, the UK's Right to Work regime expanded significantly under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025. Organisations which previously associated responsibility for Right to Work checks with their direct employees only will now find that a much wider range of working arrangements fall within the scope of the Right to Work regime.

Subsequently, the changes extend the circumstances in which organisations may be liable for civil penalties of up to £60,000 per illegal worker. An organisation could therefore face a fine where an individual is found to be working illegally, even if it does not have a direct contractual relationship with that individual, unless it has established a valid statutory excuse.

Could extended liability apply to your organisation?

Extension of civil penalty liability may now apply to workforce arrangements where:

• a person or organisation is under a contract to provide work or services to a third party, and subsequently enters into a contract with another employer who employs workers to carry out all or part of the work or services required to fulfil that contract, which may include agency-style arrangements. 
• An online matching service matches a service provider with a client or customer to provide work or services, and the service provider enters into a contract with the client or customer. 
• An employer employs an individual to provide work or services, and the contract permits that individual to substitute their work or services to be carried out by another individual in their place.

If an organisation is only purchasing services for its own use, and is not supplying those services to third parties as part of other contractual arrangements, the extended liability provisions will not apply.

What should organisations do now?

The Home Office has set out the steps and measures which organisations must take in order to establish a valid statutory excuse against extended liability for civil penalties, when engaging workers through arrangements covered by the expanded regime.

As the changes have already come into force, organisations should not assume that their existing Right to Work procedures remain sufficient and, if they have not already done so, they should act promptly to:

• consider and map all of their workforce arrangements to identify where they may be vulnerable to extended liability,
• review their contractual documentation governing these arrangements to identify and address any gaps in protection, 
• assess their own Right to Work procedures and record-keeping,
• review their identity verification processes, and
• train relevant HR, procurement and operational teams on the new requirements.

How can we help?

We can help you understand how the expanded regime affects your organisation and take practical steps to manage the risk.

This may include:

• reviewing existing labour supply and workforce arrangements;
• identifying arrangements that may fall within the extended civil penalty regime;
• reviewing or preparing contractual documentation that reflects the Home Office guidance;
• assessing your Right to Work and identity verification processes; and
• recommending improvements to strengthen compliance and support a statutory excuse.

If you would like advice on your contractual arrangements, workforce models or Right to Work procedures, please contact Siân Brown or Emma Watt (Commercial), or Hazel Findlay (Employment).