We have had a number of clients who have been caught out by the change of validity for BRP Cards vis-a-vis Right to Work (RTW) checks.
Since April 2022, the UKVI introduced online share codes for online verification of RTW, but during this same period they have continued to issue UKVI produced BRP cards which also clearly show a right to work. This is compounded by the fact that the guidance shows that manual checks are still acceptable. This has led many employers to continue to rely on a copy of the BRP card rather than using the new online system. However, even though manual checks are valid in some cases, the UKVI have removed the BRP Card from the guidance as being a valid document to prove a RTW check. This means that every worker who holds a BRP Card must use the share code system to prove right to work to an employer.
Luckily, with the phasing out of BRP cards by December 2024, this confusion should pass. However, it is imperative for all employers to review their systems and ensure all RTW checks conducted from April 2022 to the present do not rely on copies of BRP Cards and instead use the share code system. In some cases this may require a considerable amount of work to fix, and indeed there will inevitably be cases where the wrong document was copied and the staff member has already left, making it impossible to rectify this mistake.
We have prepared an infographic guide to the share code system for employers and employees below:
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