Right to Work Checks for Gig Economy and Zero-Hours Workers - What Changes From 1 October 2026

Right to work checks are being extended well beyond traditional employment. From 1 October 2026, UK businesses that engage gig economy workers, zero-hours and casual staff, agency workers or individual subcontractors will be legally required to verify that those individuals are eligible to work in the UK.

The change is made by section 48 of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025, which received Royal Assent in December 2025. On 30 June 2026 the Home Office published its response to the consultation on extending the scheme, laid commencement regulations and issued a draft revised code of practice, confirming the 1 October 2026 start date.

Until now, the checking duty has applied only where there is a contract of employment. Limb (b) workers, self-employed contractors and platform-based couriers and riders have sat outside the scheme. That gap closes in October.

Businesses that fail to check face the same civil penalties as employers of illegal workers today, with a starting point of £45,000 per worker for a first breach and £60,000 per worker for repeat breaches. This article reports the position as of July 2026 and will be updated as the final code of practice and guidance are confirmed.

Primary sources: the government's 30 March 2025 announcement on gig economy right to work checks, section 48 of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025, the Home Office consultation Extending the Right to Work Scheme (government response published 30 June 2026) and the GOV.UK guidance on penalties for employing illegal workers.

Why This Matters

The government's impact assessment estimates that between 2.5 million and 5 million additional working arrangements could come within scope of the scheme. Sectors named repeatedly in the announcements include construction, food delivery, courier services, beauty salons and warehousing.

The liability model also changes shape. New section 15A of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, inserted by the 2025 Act, can treat a business as the employer of individuals it has no direct contract with, where it has contracted another party to provide or arrange work or services.

For businesses built on flexible labour, this is a compliance shift, not a tweak. Onboarding processes designed for permanent employees will need to cover every casual engagement, and labour supply chains will need auditing before October.

1. The Current Scope of Checks

Under sections 15 to 25 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, the duty to check applies to employees engaged under a contract of employment or apprenticeship. Carrying out a compliant check before work starts gives the employer a statutory excuse against a civil penalty if the person turns out to be working illegally.

Limb (b) workers, genuinely self-employed contractors and gig platform operators have never been covered. A restaurant must check its kitchen staff, but a delivery platform has had no legal duty to check the rider delivering the same meal.

Some platforms introduced voluntary checks after reports of account sharing by riders without work rights. Deliveroo and Just Eat both operate identity verification and right to work processes, and both publicly welcomed the government's decision to make checks mandatory across the sector.

2. What the Extension Covers

Section 48 of the 2025 Act extends the definition of employment for illegal working purposes to three new categories of arrangement.

First, worker's contracts, meaning limb (b) workers who undertake to perform work personally for a party that is not a client or customer of their own business. This captures most zero-hours, casual and agency arrangements that fall short of employment.

Second, individual subcontractors, where a business contracts an individual to carry out work that the business has separately agreed to deliver for a third party. This targets labour supply chains in sectors such as construction.

Third, online matching services, meaning platforms that keep registers of service providers, match them with clients and charge a fee for doing so. Platforms will also need to deal with substitutes, so a check on the account holder alone will not be enough where someone else performs the work.

The extension does not change anyone's employment status. A courier caught by the checking duty does not become an employee for employment rights purposes; the business simply acquires right to work obligations and penalty exposure in respect of them.

3. The Gig Economy Enforcement Angle

The policy was announced on 30 March 2025, alongside the government's Organised Immigration Crime Summit, and was framed squarely as an enforcement measure. The Home Office pointed to a 48 per cent rise in illegal working visits in January 2025 compared with a year earlier.

The immigration white paper, Restoring Control over the Immigration System, published on 12 May 2025, confirmed the commitment and flagged additional enforcement staff focused on illegal working in the gig economy. The provisions were added to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill by government amendment during its passage in May 2025.

The direction of travel is clear. Delivery and courier work has been a visible route into illegal working through rented and shared accounts, and the government intends engagers as well as employers to carry the compliance burden.

4. Penalties

The civil penalty regime that will apply is the one already in force for employers. Since 13 February 2024, the starting point has been £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach and £60,000 per worker for a repeat breach within three years.

Reductions of £5,000 each are available for reporting suspected illegal working and for active cooperation with the Home Office investigation. Deliberately employing someone known or reasonably believed to lack the right to work remains a criminal offence carrying up to 5 years' imprisonment and an unlimited fine.

Enforcement can also include business closure orders and director disqualification. From 1 October 2026, all of this exposure attaches to businesses engaging gig, casual and zero-hours labour.

5. Legislative Status and Timing

As of July 2026 the position is as follows.

The policy was announced on 30 March 2025 and confirmed in the immigration white paper on 12 May 2025. The Home Office consulted on implementation between 29 October and 10 December 2025, and the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 received Royal Assent in December 2025 with the extension in section 48.

On 30 June 2026 the government published its consultation response and a written ministerial statement, laid commencement regulations bringing section 48 into force on 1 October 2026, laid amending regulations on prescribed requirements, and published a draft revised code of practice on preventing illegal working. The regulations also require that digital identity checks be carried out through government-registered digital verification service providers.

Still to be confirmed are the final versions of the code of practice and updated employer guidance, including the detailed transitional arrangements for people already engaged before 1 October 2026. The draft code indicates that checks must be in place before work or services commence, so businesses should not assume existing pools of casual labour can be left unexamined.

6. How to Prepare

Preparation starts with mapping. List every route through which individuals perform work for your business outside a contract of employment: zero-hours pools, casual banks, agency supply, individual subcontractors and platform arrangements.

Then extend your onboarding procedure so that no casual or gig worker starts before a compliant check is completed and recorded. The Home Office online checking service is free, and digital identity verification can be used for British and Irish citizens with valid passports, provided the provider is government registered.

Platform operators face the heaviest lift, including verification of substitutes and ongoing identity assurance rather than a single onboarding check. Labour users should also review supplier and subcontractor agreements now, so that checking responsibilities, evidence sharing and indemnities are clear before October.

Right to Work Extension at a Glance

What Businesses Should Do Now

1. Map your flexible workforce. Identify everyone who performs work for you outside a contract of employment, including casual banks, agency staff, individual subcontractors and platform workers.
2. Audit your current checking practice. Confirm which of those groups already receive checks, what evidence is retained and where the gaps are against the 1 October 2026 duty.
3. Update onboarding procedures for casual staff. Build a check into every engagement route so that no one starts work before their status is verified and the evidence is stored.
4. Review supplier and subcontractor contracts. Allocate checking responsibility in writing, require evidence on request and add warranties covering illegal working penalties.
5. Check your digital verification provider. If you use digital identity checks, confirm the provider will be on the government register before October.
6. Train the people who engage labour. Managers who book casual shifts or appoint subcontractors need to understand that the duty now sits with them as much as with HR.

Common Errors to Avoid

• Assuming self-employed means exempt. Individual subcontractors and limb (b) workers are being brought into scope, so labelling someone a contractor will not remove the checking duty or the penalty risk.
• Checking the account holder but not the substitute. Where someone else performs the work, an unverified substitute can still trigger a penalty of up to £60,000.
• Relying on an agency's assurance without evidence. If liability can attach without a direct contract, you need documented allocation of checking responsibility, not a verbal promise.
• Waiting for the final code of practice to start preparing. The commencement date is set in regulations, and mapping, contract reviews and process changes take longer than three months in most businesses.
• Copying and storing documents without a compliant process. A photocopied passport taken after work has started gives no statutory excuse; the check must follow the prescribed steps before work commences.

How Policy Pros Can Help

We help UK businesses turn immigration compliance duties into working procedures. Our right to work check procedures guide covers the mechanics of compliant manual, online and digital checks, and we can adapt those procedures so they fire on every casual engagement as well as permanent hires.

The October 2026 extension lands alongside other changes to flexible labour rules. Our zero-hours contracts January 2027 guide explains the guaranteed hours reforms arriving three months later, and our contractor misclassification and worker status guide helps you work out which of your contractors are really limb (b) workers, the same question that now determines checking duties.

If you would like the whole onboarding journey documented, from status verification through to references and DBS checks where relevant, our pre-employment checks policies service produces procedures your managers can follow without a law degree. Get in touch for a fixed quote.