Ensuring your workers are eligible to work in the UK

When to check documents and how long to keep them

In order to establish the statutory defence against employing someone illegally, you must carry out document checks before taking on an employee.

You can ask applicants to provide documents at any stage before starting work. If requesting documents at an earlier stage, ask all applicants for the same information, in order to avoid being accused of race discrimination.

Check that any photographs and birth dates on the documents match the appearance of your employee. Check the information in the job application against the documents produced to ensure the details match up.

The Home Office has published a code of practice for employers on how to comply without discriminating unlawfully. Read the code of practice for employers on preventing illegal working on the Home Office website.

Keeping records
Keep a record of the relevant documents you are shown, either by photocopying or scanning, using Write Once Read Many (WORM) technology including:

• the front cover
• all of the pages giving your potential employee's personal details
• any photographs and signature
• pages containing a UK government stamp, or endorsement allowing your employee to do the work you are offering

Keep a record of every copied document - the Immigration Service will then be able to examine your right to defence if they detect anyone working illegally for you. If you lose your copies, your normal recruitment procedures might be taken into account when considering if you have established a statutory defence.

How long to keep copies of documents
It is not appropriate to retain a person's original documents, except for the purpose of copying them. The only exceptions to this are:

• when an individual gives you a P45 as part of a combination of documents in List 2
• when you employ someone for a day or less and it is not practicable to obtain a copy of the documents - you must also have facilities for keeping the documents safe

You should not keep a job applicant's original documents for longer than a day. Keep copies you have made throughout the period for which you are employing a person, and for at least three years after they have left. Part 2 of the P45 must be kept for at least three years after the end of the current tax year to comply with HM Revenue & Customs regulations.

If you accept original documents from an employee because the employment is of a day or less, and return the documents at the end of that day, you do not need to worry about the three-year period mentioned above.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• Check entitlement to work in the UK
• When to check documents and how long to keep them
• Who doesn't need permission to work?
• Understand the work permit scheme
• Check if an applicant qualifies for a work permit
• How to apply for a work permit
• Extend or change existing work permits
• Employees from the European Economic Area

 Print This Page

Source - Business Link; Crown Copyright.