With the Brexit grace period ending on June 30TH, the reality of the impacts of Brexit on hiring and compliance processes for businesses are starting to be felt. The latest version of the Home Office’s ‘Employer’s Guide to Right to Work Checks’ outlines the new rules from July 1st. While this has many questions and concerns from businesses, the changes are understandable and relatively simple to implement.
What Has Changed?
The simplest way of putting it is that from July 1ST, citizens of the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland (with the exception of Irish nationals) will have to provide evidence of applying to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS). This means that unlike before, a passport or national ID card from an EEA member state is no longer enough to prove a right to work in the U.K. without proof of either a successful or pending application to the EUSS.
Why is this Important?
This extra layer to hiring EU nationals is vital to follow, with a potential fine of up to £20,000 per worker that you hire without evidence of an application to the EUSS, regardless of the validity of the passport and any other documents used during the compliance process.
The latest guidance also states that any documents under List B (most notably visas) are also not enough on their own to confirm a right to permanently work in the U.K.
Positive Developments
One encouraging announcement from the Home Office was the extension of remote Right to Work checks until the end of August. This means that scans of documents will continue to be accepted until at least August 31ST.
Rules to Follow
As a general rule, you should not hire someone if they did not apply to the EUSS by the deadline of June 30TH, and cannot provide evidence of an alternative immigration status or meet the criteria for sponsorship under the new points-based immigration system.
While you can, it is also wise to use digital checks, that save both valuable time and money during the pre-employment compliance process.
If you would like to see how Talent Clouds can improve your compliance and onboarding processes, you can book a demo here.
Photo by Habib Ayoade on Unsplash