Over 300,000 people a week could have been delayed in starting work if the Home Office had refused to allow Right to Work (RTW) checks to be conducted digitally now that the final stage of unlocking has been delayed.
This warning came from REC (the Recruitment and Employment Confederation) and refers to the fact that, since 30 March 2020, digital RTW checks have allowed employers to hire new staff without having to meet them in person to check documents.
This system has, the Confederation argues, kept people safe, saved companies time and resources during the pandemic and helped to slow the spread of Covid-19. It also levelled the playing field between UK and foreign nationals by allowing digital checks for both, rather than just for foreign nationals.
The Home Office seems to have agreed as it has now announced that digital right to work checks will be extended until the end of August.
It was, it said, “reviewing whether there are changes we can make to the right to work scheme to increase the digital checking aspects, including through the use of specialist technologies”.
The REC was quite clear what those changes should be with Chief Executive Neil Carberry welcoming the new concession but arguing that the next logical step should be a move to a permanent digital system.
“It makes no sense for Government to shoot themselves in the foot and return to mandating in-person checks when the use of digital checks has been a success story of the pandemic,” Deputy CEO Kate Shoesmith said.
She also highlighted the contradiction of the Government seeking to return to mandating in-person checks for UK nationals, thereby disadvantaging UK jobseekers in the labour market, while also trying to incentivise employers to not rely on workers from abroad.
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