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Rules that took effect on 1 October 2026 have extended the UK's right-to-work regime beyond conventional employees for the first time, placing new legal obligations on businesses that engage gig workers, individual subcontractors, agency staff and people matched through online platforms.
The changes, enacted through Section 48 of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 and brought into force by the Commencement No. 4 Regulations 2026, mean employers can no longer treat flexible or platform-based workers as outside the compliance framework. Businesses that fail to carry out the prescribed checks now face civil penalties of £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach, rising to £60,000 for a repeat breach within a three-year period. Additional consequences include director disqualification and, in the most serious cases, criminal prosecution carrying an unlimited fine and up to five years in prison.
The Home Office specifically named food delivery, construction, courier services and beauty salons as sectors in scope, but legal advisers have noted the reforms are not sector-specific and could reach far wider covering technology firms, outsourced service providers and any business whose workforce includes contractors or supply-chain labour.
One detail worth noting: extended liability can travel up the contracting chain. Where a direct employer cannot be identified or has failed to comply, the business that engaged them can be penalised instead. A contractor's missed check can become your fine.
For Indian nationals working in the UK, the changes add a layer of scrutiny that varies by immigration status. Students on a Student visa are subject to restricted working hours, and employers are now more directly exposed if those conditions are breached. Skilled Worker visa holders working through a sponsoring employer are already subject to checks, but the expanded framework increases the risk of licence revocation where sponsors engage workers outside a direct employment contract without verifying their status.
Tech companies that rely on contractors or outsourced delivery arrangements are among those most likely to need an overhaul of onboarding processes. Legal experts advise businesses to map all labour supply arrangements, review agency and subcontractor contracts, and ensure right-to-work verification is completed before any worker starts, regardless of how they are classified. A compliant check done before work begins is the only available statutory defence against a civil penalty.
The liability is per worker and cumulative. For a business with even a small number of undocumented workers, fines can reach a scale large enough to threaten its viability.
Source : Law360
