Right to work duties now reach beyond employees.

It depends on how the work is arranged, not on what the contract calls it. The guidance covers people engaged under a worker’s contract, individual sub-contractors and those matched to customers by an online platform. It can also reach a business that is under contract to provide work or services to someone else and uses another employer’s workers to do it, or an employer whose contracts let a worker send a substitute. People who run an independent business and contract directly with clients are outside it, but using your own company does not on its own take someone out of scope. In a standard agency arrangement the agency checks and the hirer is not expected to repeat it. The new duties apply to engagements that start on or after 1 October 2026 and, for a contractor further up the chain, to contracts entered into from that date; a renewal or variation can count as a new contract. Where your arrangements sit is worth an hour with an adviser.

That was broadly the position before. From 1 October 2026 the duties also cover worker contracts, individual sub-contractors and online platforms, and a business that uses another employer’s workers to fulfil its own contract with someone else can be liable if the employer of the worker cannot be identified and it has not met the prescribed contract requirements. It is not liable simply because another employer failed to check. The employer with the direct contract with the worker remains responsible for the check itself.

Operational proof, not paperwork alone. The guidance says not to rely on contractual terms alone: be able to show the arrangements are in place and working in practice. The evidence it lists includes copies of agreements, audit records, assurances received from suppliers, records of compliance reviews, and information showing how concerns were acted on. The list is not exhaustive.

Work out which relationships are in scope, agree who checks what with each supplier, and start recording it in a way that backs any assurances with evidence. The first two are a conversation with your adviser; the third is what Stamped HR is for.