Right to work checks now cover your subcontractors
From 1 October the illegal working rules stop being about employees only. Labour only subcontractors, CIS lads, agency and casual workers are all in scope, and the penalty is up to £60,000 a head. We write the policy, the check procedure, the contract clauses and the records that show the checks were done. Fixed price, issued within the week.
What you now need on paper
The defence against a civil penalty is evidence. Not that you meant to check, but that a proper check was done, on the right person, before they started, and that your contracts make everyone below you do the same.
A right to work policy and procedure
Who checks, when, how, what they record and where it is kept. Manual checks, online share code checks and identity service providers, each set out step by step.
Subcontract clause wording
Terms that require your subcontractors and labour suppliers to carry out checks, stop them subcontracting further without your consent, and give you the right to audit and to end the arrangement.
A substitution procedure
If a subcontractor can send somebody else in his place, the substitute needs checking too. A short written procedure closes the gap most labour only arrangements leave open.
A site identity check
A proportionate way of confirming that the man who turns up is the man who was checked. For most small contractors that is a photo record and a sign in, written down and actually used.
Check records and a register
A record form for each person and a live register with follow up dates for anyone with time limited permission, so nothing expires unnoticed.
Labour supplier due diligence
A questionnaire and approval register for agencies, gangs and umbrella arrangements, with CIS verification records alongside.
Labour Supply Chain Pack
Ten documents, written for your business, your trades and the way you actually take on labour. Not a template with your name at the top.
Labour Supply Chain Pack
Right to work policy and check procedure, subcontract clause wording, substitution procedure, site identity check procedure, individual check record, right to work register, subcontractor and agency due diligence questionnaire, labour provider approval register, CIS verification record, and a modern slavery statement and policy.
Just the right to work documents
Any three documents from the list above. If you already have a modern slavery policy and CIS records, a sensible three are the policy and procedure, the clause wording and the register. If you need more than three, take the pack. Ten documents for £595 beats three for £445 every time.
Already failed a labour audit?
Main contractors are auditing labour supply chains ahead of this change, and right to work checks are one of the first things they look at. Send us the report. We will tell you what is missing and what it costs to close out, at no charge. Audit responses start at £895 and include a findings matrix that maps every action to the evidence that answers it. More on audit response.
What we do, and what we do not
We are a documentation service. Here is the line, drawn before you pay rather than after.
- We do not carry out right to work checks on your workers. You do, or an identity service provider does
- We do not give immigration or employment law advice, and nothing on this page is legal advice
- We do not decide whether somebody is an employee, a worker or self employed. That is for your accountant or solicitor
- We do not deal with the Home Office for you or respond to a penalty notice
- We cannot make a check that was never done appear to have been done
- We cannot guarantee the outcome of an audit or an enforcement visit, because that turns on what you actually did
Questions we get asked
Does this really apply to CIS subcontractors?
From 1 October 2026 the illegal working rules cover more than employees. They reach people who work for you personally under a worker's contract and individual subcontractors brought in to help you deliver somebody else's contract. A labour only CIS subcontractor is the obvious example. The rules apply to individuals. A genuine limited company subcontractor is a different position, although the clauses in your subcontract still matter.
What is the penalty?
A civil penalty of up to £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach and up to £60,000 for a repeat. The defence is called a statutory excuse, and it only exists if the right checks were done, before the work started, and you kept the record.
We already check passports. Is that not enough?
It may be for your employees. The extended rules also expect the paperwork around the check: contract terms that require checks down the chain and stop people being swapped in without your say so, a procedure for substitutes, and a way of confirming that the person who turns up on site is the person who was checked. Most small contractors have none of that written down.
Do you carry out the checks for us?
No. You or an identity service provider carry out the check. We write the policy, the step by step procedure, the record forms, the clause wording and the registers, so the check is done the same way every time and there is evidence it happened.
How fast can you turn it round?
The pack is issued within five working days of you returning one short questionnaire. If a main contractor or an auditor has given you a date, tell us and we will say straight away whether we can hit it.
Is this legal advice?
No. We are a documentation service. The pack follows the published Home Office guidance for employers, but if you have a specific worker or a specific contract you are unsure about, that is a question for an immigration or employment solicitor and we will say so.
Will it help with Constructionline, CHAS or a client audit too?
Yes. Modern slavery, labour supply chain due diligence and right to work arrangements are asked about in the Common Assessment Standard and in most main contractor labour audits. The same documents answer all of them, which is the point of writing them properly once.
Tell us how you take on labour
Your trade, roughly how many people work for you and how they are engaged. We come back with a fixed price, usually the same working day.