The UK’s move to digital immigration status has altered how right to work checks operate in practice. For employers, the change is not about new rules, but about how compliance failures are now identified and enforced.
Digital checks were introduced to simplify the process of confirming permission to work. As the system has settled, the Home Office has adjusted how it assesses whether those checks have been carried out properly. That adjustment is now becoming visible through audit outcomes, with employers being caught out for non-compliant digital right to work checks.
From paperwork to clarity of outcome
Under the previous system, employers relied on physical documents such as passports or biometric residence permits. Today, most checks are completed by entering a share code provided by the worker into the Home Office’s online service. In the digital system, the focus has shifted to whether the check produced a clear and reliable result.
Where an online check confirms permission to work without issue, the position is straightforward. Problems arise where digital records are incomplete, unclear or inconsistent. In those cases, employers are now expected to pause and resolve the issue, rather than proceed and assume it will be corrected later.
This distinction is becoming central to how compliance is assessed.
Why this shift is happening now
Over the past year, physical immigration documents have largely fallen away, and digital records have become the primary evidence of immigration status. During the early stages of this transition, there was some practical flexibility as systems and processes evolved.
That period has now ended. Digital checks are no longer one option among many. They are the system the Home Office expects employers to use and understand. As a result, the Home Office is now applying existing rules on the assumption that employers have had sufficient time to adapt.
This explains why issues once seen as technical are now being treated as compliance failures.
Follow-up checks are part of the picture
Right to work compliance does not end once a worker starts their role. Where permission to work is time-limited, employers are expected to carry out follow-up checks before that permission expires.
Missed follow-ups, poor tracking or missing records are increasingly being relied on to conclude that an employer no longer has a statutory excuse. This applies regardless of whether the worker still has permission to work.
The emphasis is now on active monitoring rather than one-off checks.
What Home Office audits are testing
Modern Home Office audits are often conducted remotely and focus on how processes work in practice. Rather than reviewing individual cases in isolation, auditors look for patterns. They examine how unclear digital results are handled, whether follow-up checks are completed on time, and whether records show consistent decision-making. A single unresolved issue can prompt wider questions about an employer’s overall approach to compliance.
What this means in practical terms
A single unresolved share code or digital check error can be enough to trigger a civil penalty for illegal working, even where the employer believed a check had been completed correctly.
So while the move to digital right to work checks has reduced paperwork, it has not reduced responsibility. Employers are now judged on whether their checks lead to clear, defensible outcomes. As enforcement practice catches up with digital systems, unresolved ambiguity is becoming a compliance risk in its own right. Understanding that shift is key to avoiding problems in the current environment.
