What happens if you employ someone without the right to work?

Short answer

You can face a civil penalty of £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach, rising to £60,000 for a repeat breach — increased from £20,000 in February 2024. If you knew or had reasonable cause to believe they lacked the right to work, you risk criminal prosecution, an unlimited fine, and up to five years in prison. Correct pre-employment checks give you a statutory excuse.

Employing someone who does not have the right to work in the UK is one of the most expensive compliance failures a small business can make. The civil penalty starts at £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach and rises to £60,000 for a repeat breach, up from a single £20,000 maximum before February 2024. Where you knew — or had reasonable cause to believe — that the person had no right to work, the matter becomes criminal: prosecution, an unlimited fine, and imprisonment of up to five years for directors.

Your protection: the statutory excuse

Carrying out a correct right to work check before employment starts gives you a "statutory excuse" — a defence against the civil penalty if it later turns out the person was working illegally. The check must be done properly:

British and Irish citizens: an in-person manual document check (passport, or birth certificate plus National Insurance evidence), or a remote digital check through a certified Identity Service Provider.
Everyone else: the Home Office online checking service using a share code the worker generates. Physical EU documents are no longer valid evidence — an EU citizen who cannot produce a share code may not hold status under the EU Settlement Scheme, and you should not let them start until you can verify their position.
Time-limited permission: for workers on visas or with pre-settled status, diarise the expiry date and run a follow-up check before their leave runs out. If it has expired, you must stop employing them immediately.

You must also retain copies of the evidence from every check.

If you forgot to check

Do the check now. A late check does not give you the full statutory excuse a pre-employment check would, but it shows the Home Office you have taken steps to verify status and can limit your exposure if an investigation follows. Then fix your onboarding process so no one starts work before their check is complete — genuinely self-employed contractors are outside the statutory duty, but many businesses check everyone as a matter of risk management.

Read the full guide: Right to Work ChecksCovers eligibility, the process, deadlines, and next steps in depth.

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