The new right to work rules for temps and what they mean for your business

The rules around right to work checks changed on 1 October 2026, and if your business uses temps it’s worth knowing exactly where you stand. Right to work checks have always mattered, but the law was mostly written with permanent employees in mind. That’s no longer the case!

We’ve been getting our heads around the new rules to make sure every temp we place continues to be fully compliant from day one, so here’s what you need to know.

What actually changed on 1 October

The changes come from the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025. The right to work scheme now covers far more than traditional employment contracts, including people on worker’s contracts such as temps, casual and zero hours staff, as well as individual subcontractors and gig economy workers.

There’s also a brand new idea called extended liability, which means a business can be fined even when it doesn’t directly employ the person working illegally.

The penalties are serious, with fines of up to £45,000 per worker for a first breach and £60,000 for a repeat breach. Knowingly employing someone without the right to work is a criminal offence, with an unlimited fine and up to five years in prison.

The rules aren’t retrospective, but every new temp assignment from 1 October onwards is covered.

Who is responsible when you use agency temps

The good news is that this part is now really clear. When a temp is engaged through a recruitment agency, the agency is treated as the employer for right to work purposes, so it’s the agency’s job to carry out a compliant check before the temp starts and the agency that’s liable if it isn’t done properly.

If you’re bringing temps in to work within your own business, whether that’s one receptionist for a busy spell or a whole customer service team through a peak, extended liability doesn’t apply to you.

That makes choosing an agency with a solid compliance process more important than ever, because you’re trusting them with a legal duty that protects your business.

Where extended liability could still reach you

Extended liability is mainly aimed at businesses that have been contracted to deliver work or services and then pass some of that work on to someone else. In that situation you could be fined if workers further down the chain don’t have the right to work, unless you have strict contract terms and checks in place. If that sounds like your business, it’s well worth speaking to an employment or immigration specialist.

How we handle right to work checks at Synergy

For us, compliance has never been a box ticking exercise. Every temp we place has a full right to work check before their first shift, and we keep clear records so we can show exactly when and how each check was done. We don’t cut corners when a client needs someone urgently, because that’s exactly when mistakes happen and exactly when our clients need to be able to rely on us most.

We’ve reviewed our processes against the new rules to make sure they’re bang up to date. Where we use digital checks, the rules now say the provider must be registered on the government’s Office for Digital Identities and Attributes register and specifically approved for right to work checks, so we’ve made sure ours ticks that box. We also confirm that the person who turns up for the assignment is the person we checked, which the new guidance puts a much stronger focus on.

Whether you need one temp or a whole team, you can be confident every single one has been checked properly.

What to do now

Start by mapping out everyone who does work for your business, including employees, temps, contractors and anyone you subcontract to, so you can see where the new rules apply.

It’s also worth asking your agency how they carry out right to work checks and what records they keep, and making sure anyone who handles onboarding in your business knows what’s changed.

You can also read the details for yourself in the Home Office’s employer’s guide to right to work checks on the government website.

If you’d like to chat through how the new rules affect your temp workforce, or you need temps you can rely on to be fully compliant every time, we’d love to hear from you! Get in touch with the team at Synergy Recruitment and we’ll take the pressure off.