The concession was made on 30 March 2020 and gives employers a statutory excuse against civil liability for illegal working, if checks are conducted using scanned copies of the prescribed documents (or use of the relevant app) and those documents are checked via video calls.
The online right to work checking service may also be available, for example if a worker has status under the EU Settlement Scheme. Consent must be sought before using the online service.
Further details on how to use the concession can be found on the government website here. Employers who use this concession correctly will not need to carry out a retrospective check after 16 May 2021 to maintain a defence against a civil penalty for illegal employment.
If you would like to know more about the EU Settlement Scheme, our immigration team will be delivering a webinar on 12 May covering what employers should be doing to bring the scheme to their employees’ attention as well as discussing the thorny issue of right to work checks for European nationals during the grace period and beyond.
We will also touch on the new immigration system and how and when you can employ European nationals who come to work in the UK for the first time from 1 January this year. The link to register can be found here.
This article was initially published on the website of our sister company, Capital Law.
