Right to Work checks: what employers in Kent still get wrong

Compliance · 18 Jun 2026 · Cando Personnel

Every worker who sets foot on your site must have a documented Right to Work check completed before their first shift. The civil penalty for getting it wrong is now substantial, and "the agency handled it" is only a defence if the agency can produce the evidence.

1. Accepting a share code without checking it

A share code is a key, not a result. It has to be entered on the Home Office online service alongside the person's date of birth, and the response page — with the date you viewed it — is what you keep. A screenshot of the code itself proves nothing.

2. Not recording an expiry date

Time-limited permission means a follow-up check before it lapses. If you have no expiry field, you have no reminder, and the day the document runs out the worker becomes illegal to employ. We block assignment automatically when a mandatory check expires, which is the only reliable way to manage it at scale.

3. Checking the wrong person

The check must be against the individual, in person or over a live video call while you hold the document or view the online record. Passing a passport around an office does not satisfy it.

4. Keeping the record badly

Records must be kept for the duration of employment plus two years, securely and in a way you can retrieve them during an inspection. Loose photocopies in a filing cabinet fail on all three counts.

If you use an agency, ask to see one worker's full compliance file. If it takes more than a minute to produce, the system behind it will not hold up under an audit.

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