By law, every potential employee and candidate you take on must have a Right to Work check to make sure they’re entitled to work in the UK.
Without it, you could be facing fines of up to £60,000 – or five years in prison, if you knowingly employ an illegal worker.
We’re here to take you through the benefits of digital Right to Work checks – and how switching your process from manual to digital can save you a whole chunk of time and effort.
What are Right to Work checks?
Right to Work checks are an identity verification process that informs employers of whether a candidate has a legal right to work in the UK.
They are a legal requirement for every single potential employee, and a crucial step of the hiring process.
What are digital Right to Work checks?
Digital Right to Work checks are a streamlined equivalent of a manual Right to Work check for British or Irish citizens holding an in-date biometric British or Irish passport or passport card, or non-UK citizens who have an eVisa.
They help employers remotely validate the identity of an individual and their eligibility to work in the UK, either using the security features embedded in the identity document or by verifying a Home Office sharecode.
How it works
During a digital Right to Work check, a UK or Irish applicant uses their smartphone to:
- Take a photo of their eligible passport/passport card
- Submit a live selfie
The process works by verifying security features within the passport, including the Machine-Readable Zone (MRZ) data, font and colour along with pattern matching and integrity checks to verify whether the image was captured live and is unedited. When combined with a DBS check, this may also involve ‘unlocking’ the biometric chip to read the encrypted data within.
eVisa holders can simply enter their sharecode and date of birth before capturing the selfie. The sharecode digitally proves an employee’s immigration and right to work status, including details of what type of work they may do and for how long.
At the same time, facial recognition technology compares the applicant’s live selfie to the biometric image featured in the document or the eVisa. This confirms that the person completing the check matches the person presenting the Right to Work evidence.
How to complete a digital Right to Work check
With uCheck, digital Right to Work checks can be combined with digital identity checks in our DBS checking system.
- Log into uCheck: Sign up or login to the uCheck platform
- Request a DBS check: DRTW checks are available with any of our DBS checks – Basic, Standard, or Enhanced
- Toggle Digital ID: Digital ID enables Digital Right to Work to happen
- Toggle Digital Right to Work: With Digital ID toggled, you will then get the option to toggle Digital Right to Work.
- Complete your application as normal: Either issue your DBS application form to your applicant, or complete it if you hold the relevant information, as normal. The digital identity and Right to Work check appears at the end of the process, prompting your applicant to submit their applicable identity evidence along with a selfie.
Digital Right to Work check benefits
- Increased speed: Digital checks can be completed in minutes. And without needing to manually review physical documents, you can reduce onboarding delays.
- Improved security: Using document validation technology combined with biometric facial recognition technology provides a higher level of assurance than a manual document inspection using a consistent, secure process.
- A better experience: For both employers and applicants, digital Right to Work checks provide a more streamlined, user-friendly experience which can be completed whenever and from wherever it suits.
Digital Right to Work check drawbacks
- Limited eligibility: Unlike traditional Right to Work checks, Home Office guidance means that digital Right to Work checks aren’t compatible with all documents – so you’ll need to check beforehand that your applicants are eligible.
- Requires technology: The completion of the check depends on your applicant being able to successfully use the technology. Most Right to Work providers have, however, designed their services to be compatible with modern smartphones and tablet devices.
What should you do next?
If you’re still relying on manual Right to Work checks, you could be spending unnecessary time arranging meetings, reviewing documents, and storing paperwork.
Digital Right to Work checks can offer a faster, more secure, and more efficient way to meet your legal obligations – while improving the onboarding experience for your candidates.
With uCheck, you can combine DBS and digital Right to Work checks in one seamless process, reducing admin and keeping everything in one compliant system.
Get in touch with uCheck today to find out how you can combine digital identity and digital Right to Work checks to simplify your hiring process and help protect your organisation from risk.
If you’re unsure whether digital Right to Work checks are right for your organisation, or you’re not sure which type of check you need, our team is here to help. Just get in touch on 0330 113 33 33 or email us at info@ucheck.co.uk.
