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. This Practice Note looks at how advisers can balance the competing risks that arise in practice where an employer fails to conduct a compliant right to work check or comes to suspect that an employee does not have the right to work. Suspected

The Home Office has updated its Employer’s guide to right to work checks document for recent changes, including to remove follow up checks for persons with pre-settled status (PSS) under the European Settlement Scheme (EUSS) and to clarify the position on the right to work for asylum claimant Application Registration Card (ARC) holders after Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules HC 590. However, the guidance has not been updated to reflect a key change made in HC 590, notably the expansion of the supplementary work condition for Skilled Workers, and as such it has not clarified to whom the change should apply.

This Practice Note looks at why employers need to carry out ‘right to work’ checks, which workers should be checked (including the extension of scope from 1 October 2026 to include persons working under a worker’s contract, individual subcontractors and persons working for an online matching service in certain circumstances), and when such checks should be made. The Practice Note focuses on aspects relating to checks of persons who are or will be subject to a direct contractual relationship with the employer, but also provides an overview of the additional extension of liability from 1 October 2026 to cover contractual chains and substitution arrangements. Why should employers conduct right to work checks? Illegal employment It is unlawful to employ an adult who is subject to immigration control who has: • not been granted permission to enter or stay in the UK, or • permission that is invalid, expired or otherwise ceased to have effect (eg cancelled or curtailed), or which is subject to a condition preventing the acceptance of employment As

The Home Office has issued an updated version of the Employer’s guide to right to work checks, which applies to right to work checks conducted on or after 13 February 2024. Changes in the guidance include updating the maximum civil penalty amounts in line with recent relevant legislation, ending the 28-day concession that previously applied when an employer discovered that an EEA national or non-EEA family member does not have lawful immigration status because they should have applied to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) but have not done so, and additional guidance on employing persons for up to 20 hours a week who are otherwise employed by a licenced sponsor (‘supplementary employment’). Full details of the changes are set out below.

The Home Office has issued an updated version of its ‘Employer’s guide to right to work checks’ document, with the changes primarily related to simplifying the information on digital checks for employers of British and Irish citizens who have a valid passport (or Irish passport card). The new version has removed various technical details which were previously intended for providers of these digital verification services, and revised the relevant terminology, so that ‘Digital Verification Service (DVS)’ now includes both the terms Identity Service Providers (IDSPs) and Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT). This is stated to align the guidance with the terminology used in the UK digital identity and attributes framework and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. Guidance and requirements specifically for DVS are now set out in a separate, supplementary code for digital right to work checks. The relevant guidance for employers has been revised. Although it is not currently mandatory for employers to use a DVS certified against the ‘trust framework’ and the supplementary code, this position will change ‘in the near future’, and it will become mandatory to use a DVS listed on the register of certified DVS (maintained by the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA)). In other changes, the new version reiterates that an original expired BRP is not proof of a right to work, and instead an online check must be taken. It also confirms that short-term entry clearance vignettes are being phased out, and that increasingly persons recently issued entry clearance will only have their eVisa to rely on for these purposes, so will need to create a UKVI account as soon as possible and can do this from overseas. In relation to asylum seekers with a pending claim, the guidance now states that they can also volunteer whilst their claim is considered without being granted permission to work, but they can only carry out 'paid' work if they have been granted permission to work under the Immigration Rules, Part 11, paras 360 or 360C. Previously the reference in our quotation marks to ‘paid’ work stated ‘voluntary’ work

A person is eligible for employment in the UK if they hold a visa or permit that shows they have Indefinite Leave to Remain, Right of Abode, are exempt from Immigration Control or have no time limit on their stay in the UK.

The basic checks and verification steps frequently required in the acquisition of literary property rights.

Family analysis: In the second of a three-part series, Andrew Goldstone, a partner at Mishcon de Reya specialising in tax law, analyses the legal rights of unmarried cohabiting couples in relation to taxes and inheritance. Goldstone raises the stark differences in the rights between married and unmarried couples and the ‘unsympathetic’ nature of tax law towards couples who do not wish to marry.

These training materials consist of template PowerPoint slides that can be used as the basis of one or more training seminars on issues arising in relation to protecting rights in databases. It is anticipated that those providing training will use these slides as a helpful starting point for their presentations and then amend them accordingly to reflect their particular circumstances. The training materials are customisable. Click the link below to download the presentation. Contents • Terminology • What is a database? • Protection available to databases • Copyright protection • General copyright protection • Database copyright • Sui generis database right

Meditech scenario on database right and database copyright This training scenario accompanies Precedent: Rights in databases—training materials. It is designed to help those new to the subject apply their new knowledge and achieve a deeper understanding of the subject. Some background facts Meditech provided a health screening service, supplied via an internet-based analysis and reporting system, to Custech. The system used a medical device to take a reading from a patient and the readings were recorded as patient data. The patient data were then inputted into system via a web-based processing system, then reviewed by a qualified professional who made selections from a range of options in menus. The menus corresponded with variables contained in a database. The database comprised a set of classifications of relevant physical characteristics, such as resting heart rate, recorded by the medical device. For each classification, the database contained a number of options such as ‘normal’, ‘fast’ or ‘slow’. Within the system, a risk status was associated with each option. Explanatory text was also provided in relation to the options to provide

A form of company fund raising where existing shareholders are given rights to purchase newly issued shares in proportion to their existing holding.

ARCHIVED: This Market Standards Trend Report looks at recent trends in rights issues and offers commentary