Here are the common mistakes to avoid when completing your Right to Work checks;
1. Discrimination
Many employers are not aware of the requirement to check that their employees are legally allowed to work in the UK. These checks are required for all your employees! You cannot only perform Right to Work checks on a handful of applicants as this is deemed as discrimination. A Right to Work check must be part of the screening process for all applicants, no matter their origin.
2. Completing Right to Work checks after hiring the candidate
It is an exciting prospect when you think you have found a great candidate that will fit into your team! Sometimes, you may want to snap them up quickly and offer them the role without doing the required checks. By allowing someone to start working at your company without completing a Right to Work check, means that you could already be employing someone illegally.
If you are found to be employing someone illegally and have not carried out a Right to Work check then you have zero statutory excuse as an employer’s defence and you could face a £20,000 fine. Therefore, it is recommended that you complete these checks at the interview stage.
3. Accepting photocopies or scans of the documents during manual Right to Work checks
When completing a manual Right to Work check, you should only see the original copies of identification. The person checking the documents will not be able to accept a photocopy or scan and must see the original document (either a passport or birth certificate along with valid national insurance documentation). You must check the documents carefully in the presence of the candidate in question.
Things to look out for:
- Photographs and dates of birth are consistent across documents and with the person’s appearance in order to detect impersonation.
- Expiry dates for permission to be in the UK have not passed.
- The documents are genuine, have not been tampered with and belong to the holder.
4. Making hard copies
The old process of completing Right to Work documents required you to make hard copies of all documents into a format that couldn’t be altered. However, due to GPG45 changes in Digital Identity, you no longer need to make hard copies as this is now all digital! It is also good to note that Biometric Residency Permits are no longer acceptable Right to Work documents.
This is now the full list of documents we can accept for Right to Work checks.
Automate your Right to Work checks
Why manually carry out Right to Work checks when Secure Screening Services can handle it all with our automated Right to Work service? Our automated system uses biometric verification technology, meaning that the system is reliable and that we can process Right to Work checks instantly!
We are so proud to be one of the first companies in the industry to offer automated Right to Work checks. There is less room for error and in return, saves everyone in the process time!
For example, when previously completing manual checks, a candidate was asked to upload certain information such as ID. Candidates and employees often think that a driving licence is a suitable form of identification when completing the Right to Work check, as this form of ID is typically used in many other circumstances.
However, when completing a Right to Work you may only use a passport or birth certificate. By having an automated service, it removes this common problem of uploading incorrect information, therefore speeding up the process and giving you a completed Right to Work check – instantly!
Of course, you may still want the option to manually upload information. This could be if a passport is out of date, for example. This is possible when you use our services, and we are here to help!
Why choose Secure Screening Services to complete your Right to Work checks?
Everyone makes mistakes, but when you turn to Secure Screening Services to carry out your Right to Work checks, mistakes aren’t something you need to worry about! Have peace of mind knowing that your Right to Work checks are completed correctly and let us handle your employment screening.
Contact us by calling 01243767868 or email: hello@securescreeningservices.com.
