Covid-adjusted Right to Work checks are no longer valid from October 1st and businesses could face up to £20K fine for not carrying them out correctly
Vero Screening, a leading UK screening house and provider of Digital Identity Services, is warning businesses that Right to Work check methods are changing on October 1st, and those that don’t comply will be liable to expensive penalties.
The warning comes after it emerged that more than half of businesses admit allowing employees to start work before some background screening processes are complete*.
From October 1st, businesses will no longer be able to use the Covid-adjusted Right to Work check, which allowed applicants to show their passport details on a video call in order to prove their eligibility to work in the UK and will instead be required to perform checks face-to-face or via a Digital-ID provider.
Employers failing to meet these new requirements risk facing penalties of up to £20,000 – and yet, 57% of businesses still admit to welcoming new candidates on board before full background checks are fully finished.
That’s according to a new study from Vero Screening, a leading UK screening house and provider of Digital-ID, which also found that 60% of companies find it a challenge to comply with local legislation in the context of employment screening.
As such, Vero colleagues working to support employers in being ‘check ready’ in time for the new legislation are taking extra measures to remind businesses just what the penalties involved in not complying are, as the deadline for making the change towards Digital ID Right to Work checks fast approaches.
Virginia McFarlane-Watts, Head of Business Development at Vero (pictured above), explained: “The UK Government has been working closely with providers in the employment screening industry to create a formalised digital identity and attribute framework. This is a significant and serious move by legislators, introduced to protect employers and employees in light of adjustments within the employment market that have come about as a result of the pandemic.
“At Vero we have come to realise through our own research, however, that despite the impending deadline – not to mention the financial penalties involved – a large majority of UK employers are still not completing employment checks in general as rigorously as they could or should be. And, while Right to Work Checks are often conducted separately to other screening processes, it all tells us that businesses across the board are in need of support when it comes to adapting their approach to employment checks overall.”
Vero Screening is a market-leading screening provider with global reach and commissioned ‘The Changing Face of Background Screening’ study to help understand the issues and challenges businesses are facing when it comes to the recruitment and retention of skills in the post-pandemic world.
Key findings from the research also show that criminal record checks have seen the greatest rise in number since the pandemic, but that only 3 in 5 businesses are routinely screening 75% or more of their workforce and/or suppliers.
Virginia said: “It’s clear from the research Vero has compiled that most businesses certainly recognise that employment checks are key to maintaining credibility within the marketplace, but that there’s still some way to go when it comes to employers putting this ethos into practice.
“So, we’re working harder than ever to remind businesses that are not yet in a place to put the necessary changes into effect, just what the potential ramifications are when it comes to failing to comply with the new rules around Right to Work checks in the UK.”
“Because the bottom line of all this is that failing to comply with the new Right to Work check, or any other recommended pre-employment screening processes, leaves businesses exposed to higher levels of risk from a company, a reputation, and a regulatory standpoint too,” she added.
Vero, an Accurate Background Inc company, is the largest UK-based independent supplier of outsourced screening services, providing expert knowledge and world-class employment screening services for clients in 200+ countries.
Its whitepaper ‘The Changing Face of Background Screening’ is available to download at www.veroscreening.com/research