As we start to move out of the winter months and start to look forward to the warmer weather and lighter nights, businesses preparing for heightened activity are in the midst of recruiting seasonal staff. Whether these hires are temporary or permanent, it remains the law that all employees in the UK to undergo Right to Work checks. These are government basic identity checks, which confirm that someone is both in the UK legally, and has the right to work in the UK under the terms of their visa.
Hiring Process for Seasonal Workers
Even if you are only going to be working for a few weeks or couple of months, employers are still required to do the same level of checking on their temporary workers as they do on full time staff. This process can be tricky for recruiters when they are trying to hire a large number of staff across a number of locations. In many cases, there are more positions available than there are people looking for work, and the temptation is for employers to cut corners in order to get people into position as quickly as possible.
The Right to Work checking process for summer staff should be the same as for permanent workers. Employers should be asking staff to either bring passports into the office to show their nationality and eligibility to work in the UK, or signing up for a digital platform which will allow the same checks to be done online. Employers will also need to keep copies of documents which have been supplied or confirmation on online checks, as inspectors will want to see these on any compliance visit. As an employee, these checks are not something you can wriggle out of, so the best advice is to comply with any requests as soon as possible as this will get you earning money quickly too.
Overseas Temporary Workers
The process is more complex when it comes to workers who are nationals of another country. There are many different types of visa and immigration status for people who were born outside the UK. Some visas allow free access to any type of work in the UK, others ban all sorts of working. Students are a difficult case as they are allowed to work a maximum number of hours in term times, and longer in vacations. If you are an overseas student planning to stay in the UK for work over the summer, your employer might ask for confirmation of your university and course of study to check your term dates. Again, this is only needed to keep the employer in the clear legally speaking.
Right to Work checks for other temporary overseas workers can usually be carried out online. Workers who are in the UK on an appropriate visa can apply for a share code from the Home Office and give this to their employer. The employer can then use this share code to log into the government website and check the individual’s status.