Exclusive: Home Office reverses decision to end digital right to work checks on Monday
The Home Office told City PM this morning it has decided not to end digital right to work checks this coming Monday, as initially planned.
Instead, the checks that are needed to determine someone’s immigration status and right to work in the UK are allowed to be conducted online throughout the summer.
“We are extending the adjusted right to work checks to September 1,” a Home Office spokesperson confirmed to City PM
The decision not to end digital checks on Monday comes only a day after the Recruitment & Employment Confederation told this publication that it had written to the Home Office, urging them to extend the digital checks until all restrictions have been lifted.
The REC warned that over 300,000 people a week could be delayed in starting work if the Home Office did not continue to allow Right to Work checks to be conducted digitally now that the final stage of unlocking has been delayed.
However, the Home Office spokesperson said a decision to extend the deadline was made because “we recognise the benefits the adjusted checks have brought employers through this difficult period for them and are also reviewing whether there are changes we can make to the right to work scheme to increase the digital checking aspects, including through the use of specialist technologies.”
In response, Neil Carberry, chief executive of the REC, told City PM this morning the decision to extend was “sensible,”
“It will keep the jobs market moving. We’re pleased government has listened, and we look forward to working with the Home Office on the next logical step, a permanent digital system,” Carberry said.
Pandemic policy
Introduced at the start of the pandemic, on 30 March of last year, digital RTW checks have allowed employers to hire new staff without having to meet them in person to check documents.
“Right to Work checks play an important role in ensuring only those with a legal right can access employment in the UK,” the Home Office spokesperson said, explaining that “during the pandemic, we have taken decisive action to support employers by enabling them to undertake checks remotely.”
Recruitment businesses conduct around 300,000 RTW checks every week. Each digital check takes around five minutes, but an in-person check could take up to 45 minutes, and also incur costs for travel, cleaning and other expenses.
“At a time when so many companies are desperate for staff, it is critical that we minimise any delays and extra costs that could hamper the recovery,” said Kate Shoesmith, deputy CEO of the REC.
She added that, given increasing worker shortages, there could soon come a point where in order to fill vacancies more quickly and efficiently, foreign nationals are advantaged by the fact that employers can still check their right to work digitally.
By returning to mandating in-person checks for UK nationals, the government is effectively “disadvantaging UK jobseekers in the labour market, while also trying to incentivise employers to not rely on workers from abroad,” Shoesmith concluded.