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The Home Office’s draft code for employers, published in April 2026, is easy to misread as a technical update but it reframes compliance. The code says it will apply to employment starting on or after 1st October 2026, and to repeat checks on existing workers from that date. Its focus is avoiding unlawful discrimination while carrying out Right to Work checks.
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The draft is explicit on equal treatment. Employers must not treat applicants less favourably because they have time-limited permission to work. They must not treat someone differently because they use an eVisa. They also cannot require online or digital checks, except where a worker has been provided with an eVisa. That puts more weight on how the process operates day to day, especially when teams are handling different routes, documents and follow-up requirements.
| Older approach | What the draft code points towards |
|---|---|
| Complete the check and file the evidence | Handle each lawful route consistently |
| Build around the easiest candidate journey | Be able to support standard and non-standard routes |
| Treat Right to Work as onboarding admin | Treat it as a controlled compliance process |
| Focus on whether the check was done | Focus on how the worker was handled as well |
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The table above is a fair reading of the draft code and current employer guidance. It’s far harder to defend a recruitment process that works smoothly for passport holders but becomes patchy around ECS cases, manual checks or time-limited status. Consistency and equal treatment are being judged more closely now.
Sources: Home Office draft code of practice for employers and current employer Right to Work guidance.
This is blog 1 in a 6-part series, subscribe here to be notified of future changes to Right to Work Compliance based on HMRC updates and Gov.uk sources.
- Find out how compliance is moving beyond employees in part 2 here.
- In part 3, we covered how digital-only Right to Work journeys can leave gaps.
- In part 4, we cover how rechecks have been causing employers to become unstuck with regards to their right to work compliance.
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