Identity (ID) and Right to Work (RTW) checks are carried out by an organisation to make sure a candidate being offered a post, who is not currently employed by the organisation, has the right to work in the UK.
An ID check is to prove the candidate’s identity is genuine, belongs to a real person, and they are rightfully using that identity. A candidate’s identity and address must be verified to ensure they are not fraudulently seeking employment.
All new employees recruited under NHS Terms and Conditions must have ID and RTW checks carried out in line with the NHS Employment Check Standards.
HR Shared Services (HRSS) receive these documents on behalf of your organisation. If HRSS fail to receive the appropriate documentation your organisation can be heavily fined by the Home Office.
As a standard a combination of three documents must be requested, as a minimum, to verify the ID and RTW for a candidate.
A 'Verification of identity and right to work in the UK' guidance document will be provided via email to both the candidate and the Recruiting Manager alongside the candidates Offer letter.
This guidance explains which documents should be provided to satisfy the ID and RTW checks. Please note, the list of acceptable documents is not exhaustive and any uncertainty on whether a document can be accepted should be queried directly with the Corporate HR team.
Candidates from outside the UK, Ireland, or a British Crown Dependency
Non-UK, Irish or British Crown Dependency (Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man) candidates also need to provide one of the following to prove their entitlement to work:
- A Home Office share code from gov.uk, indicating that the person named is allowed stay in the UK and they are allowed to do the work in question. This code can be provided via a screenshot, snippet, print screen, photo of the code written on paper, etc
- Visa with a valid expiry date
- Their EU settlement status.
Without this the organisation would not be able to go ahead with the offer of employment.