Screening & vetting
What is a right to work check?
A right to work check confirms an individual is permitted to do the work in the UK. Carried out correctly before employment starts, it provides a statutory excuse against a civil penalty.
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<img src="https://secureoptix.co.uk/glossary/right-to-work/diagram.svg" alt="right to work check — diagram from SecureOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
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<a href="https://secureoptix.co.uk/glossary/right-to-work">What is a right to work check?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://secureoptix.co.uk">SecureOptix</a>
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</figure>The protection depends on following a prescribed route and doing it in time. A check done after the first shift does not establish the excuse even where the person plainly has the right to work.
Time-limited permissions create a follow-up obligation. Those dates need to be held somewhere that raises them, because missing one removes the excuse from that point forward.
For a security firm the exposure is compounded: an unlicensed or ineligible officer on a client site is a contractual problem as well as a legal one.
What goes wrong in practice
- Checks carried out after deployment began.
- The wrong check route used for the documents held.
- Follow-up dates tracked by the officer rather than by the firm.