Right to work checks: Home Office clarifies the position for sponsors

Following a short period of uncertainty, the newly updated guidance confirms that sponsors are required to carry out right to work checks on workers they sponsor and workers they employ — but not on all unsponsored workers they may engage.

The sponsor guidance updated on 6 March 2026, and then amended again on 8 April 2026, extended the requirement for right to work checks to unsponsored workers ‘(directly) engaged’ but not employed by the sponsor licence holders.  That wording significantly widened the scope of the obligation and added to the confusion as to exactly whose right to work must be checked, as explored in our recent article.

Following feedback from users, that wording has now been removed. The updated version of the Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors part 2: sponsor a worker, published on 20 May 2026, clarifies the position and confirms that references in the earlier versions to unsponsored workers ‘engaged’ or ‘directly engaged’ by the sponsor should be disregarded.

That reversal will come as a welcome relief to sponsor licence holders that have been trying to work out how to apply the April wording in practice, particularly where they engage large numbers of contractors, consultants or other non-traditional workers.

That said, this may only be a temporary reprieve. The Home Office has made clear that it remains committed to widening the scope of right to work checks to cover non-traditional working arrangements as part of its broader efforts to prevent illegal working. Further change is expected later this year with the implementation of section 48 of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025.

For now, sponsors must ensure that they carry out right to work checks for:

• any worker they wish to sponsor (including a worker who is not their direct employee); and
• any worker they otherwise wish to employ, whether sponsored or not.

As a reminder, right to work checks must be carried out before the individual starts work for the organisation.

Any failure to carry out a correct and timely right to work check, or any necessary follow-up checks, may place a sponsor in breach of its sponsor duties. That can expose the organisation to a civil penalty under illegal working legislation and, in serious cases, suspension or revocation of its sponsor licence. Sponsors should therefore ensure that right to work checks are completed for all employees and sponsored workers, regardless of the nature of the underlying working relationship. Doing so will help them meet their sponsor compliance obligations and, where applicable, establish a statutory excuse under the wider right to work regime.

If you have any questions about sponsor licence compliance or right to work checks, our immigration team would be happy to help.