Digital ID won’t be required for Right To Work, but more compulsion looms

The 13th U-turn by a government that's surely now in need of "motion sickness tablets" (to quote Lib Dem MP Lisa Smart) is about Digital ID and Right To Work, because the former will no longer be mandatory to prove the latter.

Like a number of the Labour government's other policy reversals, this thirteenth one — asserting that digital ID won't be compulsory for proof of Right To Work — is welcome, writes Better Hiring Institute chair Keith Rosser, a director at Reed Screening.

And that's even though digital ID and the corresponding identity cards are still incoming, but they "will be free for everyone who wants one," rather than a requirement, the government says.

How is it that Digital ID won't be required anymore for RTW?

It's all happened quite quickly. The flawed logic just before Christmas was that Right To Work (RTW) must be evidenced via the new digital ID scheme from 2029, meaning no means other than a so-called 'BritCard' could in future prove RTW.

But the concept of a digital ID requirement for RTW was never properly thought through.

Unlike the government's dozen others of late, this latest backtracking is distinct as the proposal quickly became unpopular with a large group of individuals and organisations that should have been the flag-waving champions of the concept.

The digital ID scheme is still going ahead — its tech jobs too

What's important for contractors to keep sight of at a time of 'confusion and farce' (as the U-turning government was accused of being responsible for on Thursday), is that the digital ID programme is going ahead, with the IT contractor jobs expected for the £1.8bn programme likely to still be created.

What's changed, pleasingly, is the plans forcing workers, including would-be contractors, to sign up to the new digital ID system in order to demonstrate their Right To Work in the UK.

The 'hollowing out' of the PM's digital ID policy

As Tory MP Mike Wood has said: "The policy that the prime minister spent months saying was absolutely vital is being hollowed out."

Wood was referring to Sir Keir Starmer, saying in September 2025: "You will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital ID. It's as simple as that."

But from the outset, the idea of mandating RTW via the nationwide, digital identity scheme left employers unsure about how these checks would be completed in future.

What were employers' digital ID-RTW concerns?

The business community's key questions about mandating digital ID for Right to Work proof included:

A lack of consultation on the decision to make digital ID cards a necessity for RTW surprised employers.

And to a degree, it surprised the Home Office, too.

Remember, digital RTW checks are already live…

Being overlooked in the reaction to the government's climbdown is the fact that 90% of Right To Work checking can already be done digitally.

Therefore, a digital, straightforward and cost-effective way to check RTW already exists. As an expert specialising in pre-employment screening and right to work checks, my recommendation is for the continued evolution of the current scheme, not something entirely new.

What next for contractors and Right To Work (RTW); is it 'Business As Usual'?

Yes and no. Coming in 2026 is Section 48 of the Border Security Act (BSA), which introduces the responsibility for RTW checks to apply to all work models.

That means, this year, everyone (and ContractorUK readers in particular) will have to be RTW-checked, notably:

RTW 'fails' by umbrellas/agencies can trigger end-user liability in 2026

The second big change under the BSA is extended liability.

As a result, all of the organisations involved in the chain, even the end-client, may find themselves with shared liability if the umbrella company or recruitment agency failed to do the Right to Work check properly.

Contractors should be aware that this shared liability under the act will make clients more nervous. It will therefore never be more sensible for contractors to have their Right To Work in place and available.

Where Right To Work checks aren't changing for contractors

Aside from the Border Security Act, it is and will be somewhat 'Business As Usual' for contractor looking to demonstrate their Right To Work in 2026.

For example, an in-date UK or Irish passport can still be checked by a range of RTW providers (such as Reed Screening).

Alternatively, an in-date visa can be checked by the employer via an official online Home Office check.

For people without passports, the more manual option remains the same — for birth certificates alongside proof of NI number to be presented to an employer.

Will the current system of Right To Work (RTW) checks change by 2029?

Ministers have said that existing checks on an individual's right to work in the UK will move fully online by 2029.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office, Josh Simons, said on January 15th 2026: "Digitising right-to-work checks will help us toughen up illegal labour market enforcement, making it easier for businesses to check people's right to work and for individuals to prove their right to work.

"Digitising right-to-work checks means two things. First, it will be easier for businesses to check people's right to work and for citizens to prove their right to work, adding simplicity to the system and taking away the paper-based documents that can often open the way for fraud.

"Secondly, and crucially, it will allow a record of businesses that have conducted checks. That is the basis of tougher enforcement, which is the ultimate goal".

'Digital RTW checks will make it easier for digital ID cardholders to prove RTW'

Simons added that digital RTW checks would make it easier for Brits who have a digital ID to prove their right to work.

He also described the record created once a digital Right To Work check is done as a "key piece of information that this government will use, alongside the other ways we are toughening up our illegal working."

The 'paper-based' claim about the current Right To Work system

In some ways, it's not surprising that a digital RTW checking is being promised for development alongside the digital ID programme. Indeed, following the launch of the existing Digital Right to Work scheme (which is a programme that I was professionally involved in conceiving), it has always been the intention to find a digital option for people without in-date passports or visas.

Those select individuals currently outside of digital RTW solutions may be what prompted the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, to last week tell BBC Radio 4's Today programme that "at the moment we've got a paper-based system — there's no proper records kept."

As a statement, it's not very accurate, given that 90% of RTW checks can today be carried out digitally.

The government regards Right To Work as 'a hodge podge system'

But not all businesses currently do so, which may be what another government official had in mind when they said on January 13th 2026 (after the announced U-turning of digital ID as the only way to prove RTW):

"Currently, Right To Work checks include a hodge podge of paper-based systems with no record of checks ever taking place. This is open to fraud and abuse."

To me, this statement indicates that part of the incoming changes to RTW could include a digital solution for checking birth certificates as a qualifying Right to Work check.

It also suggests that digital Right to Work checks will be made mandatory.

Coming soon: Mandatory digital RTW checks

Indeed, Mr Simons (on the government's behalf) confirmed late last week in the House of Commons: "There will be checks, they will be digital and they will be mandatory."

He added: "Those seeking to work illegally in the United Kingdom will no longer be able to provide fraudulent papers. Information obtained from digital right-to-work checks will be available to help crack down on unscrupulous employers who are undercutting British workers and hiring people without the legal right to work.

"This is about fairness and ensuring that only those with a genuine right to work in the United Kingdom are able to work in the United Kingdom. We will be consulting imminently".

With Right To Work as a contractor, what about the right to choose?

To a degree, the RTW choice today is really with the employer /engager, rather than the contractor, as to whether a passport is checked in-person or digitally.

Contractors are able to request one route or another, but if 'Digital RTW' becomes mandatory in 2029 — as the government is signalling — this could erode the right to choose.

Be prepared for the government to argue to any complaining contractors that mandatory digital Right To Work checks are necessary to cut illegal working and prevent pay undercutting.

However, even at the time of writing, both visa records and HMRC records can already reveal if someone is working illegally (unless via 'cash in hand' or in the hidden economy).

It's not just job candidates who face losing the right to choose on RTW

Employers may not like losing the right to choose on Right to Work either.

Will a small, agricultural business, or a family outfit employing just a handful of staff, want to be forced to use digital systems to prove Right to Work?

TL;DR: Right To Work for contractors in 2026-2029

For 2026, it's mostly 'Business As Usual' for contractors with Right To Work checks.

But that's ahead of heightened liability risk for employers and all workers being in RTW's scope later this year, both due to the Border Security Act, before digital Right To Work checks turn compulsory for all from 2029. Assuming no further U-turns, of course.