From 1 October 2026, the right to work regime will extend beyond traditional employer-employee relationships in certain circumstances, creating potential compliance responsibilities for businesses using contractors, subcontractors, agency arrangements, platforms and other labour supply structures.
For businesses using contractors, subcontractors, agency arrangements, platforms or complex supply chains, the new rules could change where legal responsibility sits and how businesses need to manage their commercial relationships.
For many UK employers, right to work checks are already part of the standard recruitment process.
An employee is offered a role. Their immigration status is checked. The evidence is recorded. The business retains a statutory excuse against a civil penalty if the check was completed correctly.
That familiar process remains important.
But from 1 October 2026, the question businesses need to ask is broader:
Who is actually performing work for, through or on behalf of our business and who is responsible for checking that person’s right to work?
Following changes introduced by the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025, the illegal working regime is being extended beyond traditional employer-employee relationships. The result is a significant compliance issue for businesses that rely on flexible labour models, subcontractors, outsourcing and digital platforms.
Right to Work Checks for Contractors and Subcontractors
Under the existing regime, businesses generally focus on workers they directly employ.
The October 2026 changes broaden the concept of “employment” for right to work purposes.
The expanded regime can cover:
- workers engaged under a worker’s contract;
- certain individual subcontractors;
- workers supplied through contracting chains;
- individuals engaged through online matching services; and
- substitutes working under arrangements that permit substitution.
This matters because the person performing work for your business may not appear anywhere on your payroll.
A business could therefore have a right to work compliance risk without having a conventional employment relationship with the individual concerned.
Supply chains are where the risk becomes particularly important
The most significant practical development is the introduction of extended liability.
Under the new regime, liability for illegal working can potentially extend through a chain of subcontracting arrangements.
For example:
Business A → Contractor B → Subcontractor C → Worker
If the worker at the end of that chain does not have the right to work, the businesses within the relevant contracting chain may potentially face liability.
That is a fundamental change in how organisations should think about immigration compliance.
It means that procurement teams, commercial lawyers and operational managers can become part of the right to work compliance process even where HR has carried out every check correctly on the company’s own employees.
The new regime therefore requires businesses to look beyond their own workforce and understand how labour is supplied throughout their operations.
A contract saying “the supplier is responsible” may not be enough
One of the most important practical points for businesses is that contractual wording alone may not provide sufficient protection.
For certain arrangements, businesses seeking to establish the new statutory excuse will need to meet prescribed requirements before the work begins.
These include contractual provisions dealing with matters such as:
- completion of compliant right to work checks;
- restrictions on further subcontracting;
- passing equivalent obligations down the supply chain;
- audit rights;
- action where illegal working is identified; and
- cooperation with Home Office investigations.
Businesses will also need to take reasonable steps to satisfy themselves that the arrangements are actually being followed.
In other words, compliance cannot simply sit inside a contract and be forgotten.
A supplier assurance that “all workers have been checked” may need to be supported by appropriate contractual controls, evidence and monitoring.
Substitution clauses deserve particular attention
Businesses using contractors or platform workers should also examine any contractual right of substitution.
Traditionally, a substitution clause may have been viewed primarily as an issue of employment status or contractual structure.
From October 2026, it can also become a right to work compliance issue.
Where one individual can send another person to carry out the work, businesses need appropriate processes to ensure that the substitute’s right to work has been checked before they begin working.
The new requirements also contemplate identity verification arrangements designed to establish that the person actually carrying out the work is the individual who was checked.
For businesses operating large workforces or high-volume contractor models, this could require significant changes to operational processes.
Do right to work Rules apply to self-employed contractors?
Another area businesses should approach carefully is self-employment.
The new regime is not intended to capture genuinely independent businesses operating on an arm’s-length basis. For example, a genuinely self-employed professional providing services directly to clients may fall outside the extended regime.
However, the label attached to a relationship is not necessarily decisive.
The nature of the arrangement matters.
A business should therefore be cautious about assuming that an individual is outside the right to work regime simply because their contract describes them as “self-employed”.
The practical question is how the relationship operates: who provides the work, how the work is arranged, whether the individual is genuinely operating an independent business and where responsibility sits within the contractual structure.
Digital right to work checks are also changing
Businesses that use digital identity verification providers should review their current arrangements before October.
From 1 October 2026, where a business relies on a digital verification service provider to establish or maintain a statutory excuse for right to work purposes, the provider must meet the new requirements.
In particular, the provider must be:
- registered on the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA) register; and
- specifically authorised to conduct right to work checks.
Being authorised to provide general identity verification services will not, by itself, be sufficient.
This is an important point for businesses using third-party HR or background-checking platforms. The identity verification element may itself be outsourced, meaning an organisation may need to establish exactly which provider is performing the relevant check and whether it has the necessary authorisation.
What are the penalties for illegal working?
The financial consequences remain substantial.
Civil penalties can reach £60,000 per illegal worker, subject to the applicable circumstances and enforcement regime. More serious cases can also involve criminal liability where there is knowledge or reasonable cause to believe illegal working is taking place.
For businesses holding a sponsor licence, immigration compliance problems can also have wider consequences.
A sponsor licence is a significant business asset for organisations that depend on international recruitment. Compliance failures can therefore affect not only the particular worker involved but potentially the organisation’s wider ability to sponsor overseas workers.
This is why the October changes should not be viewed simply as another HR policy update.
Please read our article on How to avoid Illegal working civil penalties
Five questions every business should ask before 1 October
Businesses should consider carrying out a structured review of their workforce and supply arrangements.
1. Who actually performs work for our business?
Do not limit the exercise to employees.
Map employees, workers, contractors, agency workers, subcontractors, outsourced service providers and, where relevant, platform-based workers.
2. Where does our labour supply chain begin and end?
If work is subcontracted, identify who is performing it and whether further subcontracting is permitted.
A business cannot effectively manage a compliance risk it cannot see.
3. Do our contracts contain the necessary protections?
Existing supplier and subcontractor agreements may need to be reviewed and, where necessary, amended to address the new requirements.
Particular attention should be paid to:
- subcontracting;
- audit rights;
- right to work obligations;
- information sharing;
- enforcement rights; and
- substitution arrangements.
4. What happens when a substitute worker arrives?
If substitution is permitted, establish exactly who checks the substitute, when the check happens and how the business confirms that the person attending work is the person whose right to work was verified.
5. Can we prove that our compliance system works?
Good compliance is not simply about having a policy.
Businesses should be able to demonstrate what checks were undertaken, by whom, when they were completed and what happened where concerns were identified.
For supply chains, businesses should also retain appropriate evidence of contractual controls, assurances, audits and compliance monitoring.
Right to work compliance is becoming a commercial issue
Perhaps the most important lesson from the October 2026 changes is that immigration compliance is no longer confined to recruitment.
HR may own the traditional right to work process, but the wider compliance risk can sit across the entire business.
- Procurement teams may select suppliers.
- Commercial teams may negotiate subcontracting provisions.
- Operations teams may control access to worksites.
- Finance teams may engage contractors.
- Legal teams may draft the relevant agreements.
- HR may conduct the checks.
- And senior management may ultimately need to understand the organisation’s exposure.
That makes right to work compliance a cross-functional business issue.
Right to work changes 2026: a practical checklist
Before 1 October 2026, businesses should consider whether they have:
- mapped everyone performing work for the business;
- identified relevant contractors and subcontractors;
- mapped labour supply chains;
- reviewed agency and outsourced arrangements;
- identified relevant online or platform-based arrangements;
- reviewed substitution clauses;
- checked contractual right to work provisions;
- reviewed audit and information rights;
- assessed digital verification providers;
- updated right to work policies;
- trained relevant employees and managers; and
- established appropriate record-keeping and monitoring processes.
For businesses with complicated labour structures, waiting until October may leave too little time to identify every potential exposure.
Frequently asked questions about right to work checks in 2026
When are the new right to work rules coming into force?
The changes are due to take effect from 1 October 2026. The Home Office has published draft updated guidance ahead of implementation.
Will right to work checks apply to contractors?
The extended regime includes certain working arrangements beyond traditional employees, including relevant workers and individual subcontractors. Whether a particular contractor arrangement falls within the rules will depend on its structure and the applicable requirements.
Will right to work checks apply to subcontractors?
The 2025 legislation extends the Right to Work Scheme to individual subcontractors in specified circumstances. Businesses using subcontracting arrangements should therefore review their structures before 1 October 2026.
Do self-employed people need a right to work check?
Not every genuinely self-employed arrangement will necessarily fall within the extended regime. However, businesses should not rely solely on the label “self-employed”. The nature and structure of the engagement need to be considered.
What should businesses do about supply chains?
Businesses should identify who performs work through their supply chains, understand where responsibility for right to work checks sits and review contractual protections, audit rights and monitoring arrangements.
What happens if a business gets a right to work check wrong?
The right to work regime is supported by civil and criminal sanctions. Businesses should ensure that required checks are carried out correctly and that appropriate evidence is retained so that any available statutory excuse can be established.
What should businesses do before October 2026?
Businesses should start by mapping their workforce and labour supply arrangements, reviewing contractor and supplier agreements, checking substitution arrangements, reviewing digital verification providers and updating internal processes.
How Colman Coyle can help
The expansion of the right to work regime means that businesses need to look beyond the question of “Have we checked our employees?”
The more important question may become:
“Have we built a system that allows us to identify and manage right to work risk wherever people are performing work for our business?”
At Colman Coyle, our corporate immigration team advises businesses on right to work compliance, sponsor licence obligations, immigration audits and workforce-related immigration risks.
We can assist businesses with reviewing their existing arrangements, identifying potential areas of exposure, updating policies and contractual processes, and preparing for the changes taking effect on 1 October 2026.
If your business uses contractors, subcontractors, agency workers or other flexible labour arrangements, now is the time to review how the 2026 right to work changes may affect your organisation.
Contact Colman Coyle’s Corporate Immigration team for advice on preparing your business for the October 2026 right to work changes. call us on 020 7354 3000 or email us at contact@colmancoyle.com.
