Right to Work Checks Are Changing – Is Your Construction Business Ready?
If you work in construction or regularly use subcontractors and self-employed tradespeople, 1 October 2026 is an important date for your diary. The Right to Work scheme is being extended beyond traditional employment arrangements. (Legislation.gov.uk)
For many employers, Right to Work checks are a familiar part of recruitment: check someone’s eligibility before they start work and retain the appropriate evidence. (GOV.UK)
But for businesses using casual workers, individual subcontractors and more complex contracting arrangements, understanding who is responsible will need closer attention.
The starting point is knowing who your business engages, how those arrangements work and where responsibility sits.
Why is construction particularly affected?
Construction businesses often rely on a mixture of directly employed staff, casual workers, self-employed tradespeople, individual subcontractors, limited companies, agencies and other labour suppliers. There may also be several businesses involved in a subcontracting chain.
From 1st October 2026, the extended scheme will include people engaged under a worker’s contract, certain individual subcontractors and some arrangements involving online matching services. (GOV.UK)
Simply describing someone as “self-employed” does not determine whether the scheme applies. Businesses need to look at the contractual arrangements and how they operate in practice.
For the newly covered categories, the expanded civil penalty regime applies to engagements starting on or after 1 October 2026. The prescribed contractual requirements for protection against extended liability apply where the relevant contractual arrangements are entered into on or after that date. (GOV.UK)
Take a typical construction example
Imagine a building company agrees to carry out work for a client and then contracts directly with a self-employed electrician, as an individual, to complete part of that work.
Depending on the arrangement, the electrician may fall within the new individual subcontractor provisions. Where that is the case, the building company may be responsible for completing the appropriate Right to Work check before work begins.
Now compare this with subcontracting the electrical work to an electrical contracting company that employs its own electricians and sends them to site.
That does not automatically mean the building company must personally check every employee of the electrical contractor. However, it should still consider whether it has responsibilities under the extended liability provisions discussed below.
Similarly, where an electrician genuinely provides services through their own limited company, and the building company contracts with and pays that company rather than engaging the electrician personally, the arrangement may fall outside the direct checking requirement.
An individual genuinely operating an independent business and providing services to their own clients or customers may also fall outside the scheme. The distinction depends on the actual arrangement, not simply the description used.
What about agencies and labour suppliers?
Where someone is supplied and employed by an employment agency or employment business, that organisation will normally be responsible for carrying out the appropriate Right to Work check.
However, businesses should not assume that using another organisation removes all responsibility. The extended liability provisions can apply in certain subcontracting chains, even without a direct contract with the individual doing the work. They do not apply to every business purchasing services from another business. Understanding the contractual chain and meeting the applicable requirements will therefore be important. (GOV.UK)
Knowing who carries out the check is important. Understanding your own responsibilities is just as important.
What should construction businesses do now?
Do not wait until your next subcontractor arrives at the site gates on 1 October.
Start by reviewing the different ways people provide work or services to your business. Identify your employees, casual and temporary workers, directly engaged self-employed individuals, limited company contractors, agencies and other labour suppliers.
Then look beyond the labels and ask:
Who are you contracting with?
Is the agreement with an individual, their limited company, an agency or another business? Who receives payment?
Who is expected to carry out the work?
Must a particular individual do it personally, or can someone else genuinely be substituted?
Where does your business sit in the chain?
Are you purchasing services for your own business, or have you agreed to provide that work or service to another client and subcontracted part of it?
These questions will help identify which arrangements need closer attention.
Where your business is responsible for a Right to Work check, make sure the prescribed process is followed correctly and at the required time. Completing the appropriate check before work begins is central to establishing protection against a civil penalty if illegal working is subsequently identified. (GOV.UK)
Apply checks consistently and fairly
Right to Work checks must be carried out without discrimination.
Do not decide who needs to provide evidence based on their name, accent, appearance or assumptions about their nationality. Apply a consistent approach to everyone covered by the relevant checking requirements. (GOV.UK)
1st October 2026 is approaching – start preparing now
For businesses using several different types of labour, the priority is to understand existing arrangements and make sure the right processes are ready for new engagements and contracts.
In straightforward cases, responsibility may be clear. More complex arrangements involving subcontracting chains, intermediaries or substitution clauses may need closer examination and, where appropriate, specialist immigration or legal advice.
If you are unsure where your subcontractors, casual workers or other working arrangements fit, speak to Rely before 1st October 2026.
We can help you work through the different categories, identify arrangements that need further attention and understand where specialist advice may be required.
Rely Ltd – HR & Training Specialists
This blog provides general HR information and should not be treated as legal or immigration advice. More complex Right to Work or immigration matters may require specialist advice.
Publication note: The Home Office’s guidance updated on 11 September 2026 remains labelled “draft”. Check for a final version. (GOV.UK)