Employers given more time to prepare for digital right-to-work checks

To continue reading please register or login to your OHW+ account.

The Home Office has announced that the scrapping of temporary adjusted checks for employers to establish a candidate’s right to work in the UK has been deferred again, this time until 30 September 2022.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic struck organisations have been able to carry out video-based checks of a person’s right to work in the UK, rather than having to physically examine documents.
After numerous extensions to the end date of this temporary measure, the government announced in December that from 6 April 2022 employers will be able to use government-certified “identification document validation technology” (IDVT) to check UK and Irish citizens’ right to work.
A statement from the Home Office said it made the decision to defer the date after feedback following its announcement enabling employers IDVT to carry out digital checks on British and Irish citizens who hold a valid passport from 6 April 2022.
“Deferring the end date of the adjusted checks to 30 September 2022 ensures employers have sufficient time to develop commercial relationships with identity service providers, make the necessary changes to their pre-employment checking processes and carry out responsible on-boarding of their chosen provider,” it said.
Chetal Patel, partner at law firm Bates Wells said: “The extension of the deadline for adjusted temporary checks is positive for businesses, particularly those that are continuing to operate on a remote or hybrid basis. Today’s news will come as a relief to employers, as it means they will be able to speed up the hiring process and keep costs down. This is particularly important at a time when there are severe shortages of skilled workers.”