UK right-to-work checks extend to contractors, sub-contractors and platform workers from 1 October

UK right-to-work checks extend to contractors, sub-contractors and platform workers from 1 October

28 September 2026 — The Home Office's updated employer's guide to right-to-work checks "will come into force on 1 October 2026". It puts into effect changes made by the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025, which widen the illegal-working rules beyond employees. HR News set out on 28 September what the change means for HR teams that rely on contractors and external workers.

Who is now covered

Until now, right-to-work duties applied to employees. From 1 October they also cover three other ways of engaging people:

• worker's contracts, where an individual undertakes to perform work or services personally;
• individual sub-contractors, engaged where another party has contracted with a third party;
• online matching services, platforms that match people providing services with clients or customers.

For these three groups, the guide says a civil penalty "may only be imposed where the employment commenced on or after 1 October 2026". In other words, engagements that start from that date need a compliant check before work begins.

Extended liability up the chain

The guide also brings in extended liability where work is supplied through contracting chains, through online matching services, or under substitution clauses that let a worker send someone else. A business that wants a statutory excuse against that liability must meet prescribed contract requirements "where the relevant contractual arrangements were entered into on or after 1 October 2026".

Who is affected

UK employers and hirers that use contractors, freelancers, agency and umbrella arrangements, sub-contracted services or gig platforms; the platforms themselves; recruitment and staffing firms; and the vendors of onboarding, vendor-management and identity-verification software that run the checks.

What to do

• Map everyone you engage outside payroll: contractors, sub-contractors, platform workers and substitutes.
• Make sure right-to-work checks happen, and are recorded, before work starts for any such engagement beginning on or after 1 October.
• Review contracts with suppliers and platforms against the prescribed requirements, so the statutory excuse is available.
• Ask your onboarding, vendor-management and identity-verification software providers whether their check workflows now cover non-employees.

Sources

• GOV.UK (Home Office): Right to work checks — an employer’s guide, draft coming into force on 1 October 2026 (updated 11 September) — 11 September 2026
• HR News: Who is responsible now? The right to work changes every HR leader needs to understand — 28 September 2026