Dealing with actual or alleged illegal working

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STOP PRESS: This Practice Note is being updated for the coming into force of section 48 of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025, and related guidance and Codes of Practice. This measure will extend the right to work regime to the provision of work and services beyond the standard employment relationship, including to worker contracts, individual sub-contractors and online matching services. Liability will also be extended in relation to relationships along a contractual chain and where substitution is allowed. There are separate prescribed requirements which will create a statutory excuse for some of these relationships. For more details, see Practice Notes: Illegal working: who must be checked and Illegal working—civil and criminal sanctions.

Employers may need to deal with actual or alleged illegal working in the course of their business.

This issue may arise:

  1. •

    at the time an employee is identified by the employer as a person who may not have the right to work in the UK, or

  2. •

    when an employer is issued with a civil penalty notice or becomes the subject of criminal proceedings relating to...

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