Outsourcing recruitment and employer responsibilities

Outsourcing recruitment does not automatically transfer the employing business’s right-to-work responsibility. Define what the recruiter will collect, what the employer must check and how evidence will be provided before the person starts work.

Review any permitted identity-provider arrangement separately from an ordinary recruitment service. A contract saying checks completed is not the same as having the required evidence and process.

Identify who is employing the individual

Outsourced recruitment can involve a search agency introducing candidates, a staffing business supplying its own employees or a provider managing part of the hiring process. These arrangements do not have identical immigration responsibilities. Map the contractual chain and identify the legal entity engaging each person. A supplier's trading name or a statement that it “handles compliance” does not answer who must perform the prescribed check. ^[1]

For a business recruiting its own employee, the current Home Office guidance generally prevents reliance on a third party's manual or online check as the employer's statutory excuse. There is a specific digital identity route for eligible British and Irish passport holders, with retained employer responsibilities. Distinguish help with administration or technical expertise from the employer's own required checking action. ^[1]

Define the agency's tasks and the employer's decision

A recruitment agreement should explain what the agency will collect, how candidates will be told about the process and when information reaches the employing business. Assign responsibility for resolving missing evidence, arranging identity comparison and confirming that work restrictions match the vacancy. Avoid a handover consisting only of a tick box marked “RTW complete” without identifying the route or the underlying evidence.

Where the supplier employs and supplies staff, ask how it completes checks, controls substitutions and alerts the client to changes affecting the assignment. The current guidance encourages businesses to seek assurance about contractors and labour providers, even where the individual is not their direct employee. Sponsor duties and other sector-specific obligations may create additional requirements. Contract wording should reflect the actual arrangement rather than assuming one standard clause covers every supply model. ^[1]

Prepare for the expansion scheduled for October 2026

As at 8 September 2026, the Home Office has published draft guidance that takes effect on 1 October 2026. It extends the right-to-work framework to specified worker contracts, individual subcontractors and online matching services, and addresses extended liability within relevant arrangements. The draft explains that the new civil penalty scope applies to relevant employment commencing on or after that date. These future provisions should not be described as already operative in September. ^[2]

Review engagements expected to begin after commencement and identify which parts of the chain may be affected. The planned framework includes conditions around prescribed checks, supplier arrangements, identity controls and substitutes. Obtain advice on the precise scope and transitional position before using a contract template. Our guide to Checking a contractor workforce: questions to raise sets out the practical questions for a contractor workforce, including how to establish who actually performs the work.

Make assurance evidence specific and proportionate

Ask the provider to explain its checking process, training, evidence retention and escalation arrangements. Where audit rights are agreed, define what can be inspected and how personal data will be protected. Receiving complete identity files for every person is not automatically the most appropriate assurance method. The necessary evidence depends on the client's duties, the legal relationship and the applicable guidance.

Compare the assurance with reality at the workplace. Are the people arriving the same individuals named on the assignment list? Can a supplier send a replacement without notification? Who stops an unverified substitution from beginning work? A procurement review conducted once at contract signature can miss operational changes. Give site managers a practical contact and a clear process for an unexpected worker or an unexplained change in identity.

Keep accountability visible through the recruitment cycle

The contract owner, HR team and hiring manager should agree who authorises each start. Record the employing entity, check owner, evidence status and any assignment restriction. If the agency changes, do not assume records automatically transfer or that a new commercial agreement preserves every earlier assurance. Review the arrangements before workers move between employers, sites or contractual models.

For support through Employer right-to-work process review, provide a diagram in words of the contracting parties, who pays and directs the worker, and the proposed commencement date. Any individual or business immigration advice must come from an appropriately regulated or otherwise legally authorised adviser. Seek separate employment advice where worker status or transfer rights are uncertain. A useful review produces a responsibility allocation and implementation dates, with the October 2026 changes distinguished from duties that already apply.

Schedule a final policy review against the guidance in force when the engagement actually begins. This is particularly important where a recruitment campaign starts in September but its first assignments begin after the October commencement date.

Illustrative scenario

A business receives a candidate from an agency with a generic clearance note. HR confirms the actual employing arrangement and completes or verifies the prescribed process appropriate to its responsibility.

Preparation checklist

• Identify the actual employer
• Define recruiter tasks
• Obtain required evidence
• Verify the employer’s own process