Right to Work Checks for Contractors and Other Non-Employees: Guidance Notes
These guidance notes help a business work out when it must check the right to work of people who work for it without being its employees, and what its contracts must say when it passes work on to a contractor.
What changed on 1 October 2026
Since 1 October 2026, the illegal working rules reach beyond employees, for work done in the UK, with civil penalties of up to £60,000 for each illegal worker.
They now cover people on a “worker’s contract”, individuals a business engages to do work it has agreed to provide (or arrange) for its own client, and the substitutes and helpers of anyone it must check.
When you pass work on to a contractor
A business that has agreed to provide (or arrange) work for its own client, and passes that work on to another business that uses its own people (such as a contractor’s own company), can be treated as employing everyone who does that work for that business.
It must then do more to keep its statutory excuse. This includes making a written statement before work starts that requires certain terms in its contract with that business, and keeping identity checks in place. It also has to check some people itself, such as a sole trader who does the work personally or a company owner who has no contract with the company.
What the guidance notes explain
Who to check. The notes explain whom you must check, when you are not caught (for example, when you buy a service for your own business) and who carries out the check, and how.
Contract terms and identity checks. They set out the six terms your written statement must require and the identity checks you must make.
Substitutes, records and penalties. They also cover what to do about substitutes and helpers, the records to keep, the penalties and how to avoid discrimination.
The notes are designed to be read with our Right to Work Guidance Notes, which explain how to carry out a check.
Right to Work Checks for Contractors and Other Non-Employees: Guidance Notes is part of Employment. Just £38.50 + VAT provides unlimited downloads from Employment for 1 year.