What paperwork must be in place before someone starts?

England and Wales: This page sets out the position in full. Scotland: the same right-to-work check and the same written statement, with two differences — a different maximum prison term when the criminal offence is tried summarily, and a senior-management disqualification check that has applied only since 31 August 2025. Northern Ireland: the same right-to-work check, but a weaker written-statement rule — it may be given in instalments, later, and to employees only — and no senior-management disqualification check at all; see the Northern Ireland section below.

The right-to-work check is your defence, not a chore

The right-to-work check is the charity’s legal defence against the civil penalty, not immigration paperwork. This step is for the manager or trustees taking on a charity’s first employee or any new starter.

It usually follows registering as an employer and setting up payroll. It applies in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Home Office sets the check; the Charity Commission comes in for senior posts.

The civil penalty for employing someone without the right to work is in s.15 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006. The same section gives you the way out. s.15(3) reads, verbatim:

“An employer is excused from paying a penalty if he shows that he complied with any prescribed requirements in relation to the employment.”

So the penalty is not about the person’s immigration status. It attaches to not having done the check. Do the check properly, keep the copy, and you are excused. Skip it, and you are not.

The excuse has one limit. Under s.15(4), it does not apply to an employer who knew, at any time during the employment, that it was unlawful.

The maximum civil penalty is £60,000 for each illegal worker. That figure would end most small charities. It is not written in the Act, though. s.15(2) says only “a specified amount not exceeding the prescribed maximum”, and the maximum is set by order. It can move without Parliament passing a new Act.

How to do the check

A right-to-work check is the employer’s check, by a method the Home Office accepts, that a person is allowed to do the work. Do it before the person starts work, not on their first morning and not in their first week. The Home Office accepts these methods: Original documents checked in the holder's presence, an online share code, or an IDVT-certified identity service provider for British and Irish citizens.

Then keep the evidence. The rule is: Copy and retain for the duration of employment plus 2 years. Repeat before time-limited permission expires.

Three habits make the check hold up:

• Date it. Record the date you did the check and who did it.
• Copy it. Seeing the document is not enough. Without the copy, you cannot show the excuse.
• Diary the expiry. If someone’s permission to work runs out on a set date, put the date in the diary and repeat the check before it.

Not asking is not safe

The criminal offence is s.21 of the 2006 Act, not s.15. And it has two limbs, not one.

• s.21(1) catches an employer who employs someone knowing they are disqualified by their immigration status.
• s.21(1A) catches an employer who has reasonable cause to believe it. This limb was added by the Immigration Act 2016 and has been in force since 12 July 2016.

The second limb is the one that changes behaviour. “We’re fine unless we actually knew” is how the older, narrower version reads. It is not the law.

The test in s.21(1A) is whether the employer had reasonable cause to believe, not whether it asked. Whether a particular employer had it is a question of fact for a court, and this page cannot answer it for your charity. The penalties are set out under the heading on employing someone without the right to work.

About to change: sessional workers and freelancers

At the moment, the right-to-work regime applies to people you employ. Many charities also use sessional workers and freelancers, who sit outside it.

That is changing. Section 48 of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 inserts new ss.14A and 15A into the 2006 Act. New s.14A extends “employ” in ss.15–24 to three more kinds of engagement:

• someone engaged under a worker‘s contract
• an individual sub-contractor
• work arranged through an online matching service

S.I. 2026/683 reg. 2 brings s.48 into force on a fixed date that falls within weeks of this page’s last check. legislation.gov.uk has not yet applied the new sections to the text of the 2006 Act. Check the regulations and the Home Office’s employer guidance for the date, and for what the new checks require, before relying on either position.

Once it applies, charities that engage sessional workers on those terms come within the regime for them too.

The written statement: day one, one document, workers too

The written statement of employment particulars is the document setting out the main terms of a job. In England, Wales and Scotland it is due on or before the first day. It goes in a single document. And it is owed to workers, not only employees — the difference is set out on deciding employment status.

Section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 now opens: “Where a worker begins employment with an employer…”. The day-one rule is in s.1(2), verbatim:

“Subject to sections 2(2) to (4)— (a) the particulars required by subsections (3) and (4) must be included in a single document; and (b) the statement must be given not later than the beginning of the employment.”

Many people still remember the old model: a short statement on day one and a fuller one later. That model is gone. Only four items may come later:

1. pensions (s.1(4)(d)(iii))
2. collective agreements (s.1(4)(j))
3. training entitlement (s.1(4)(l))
4. the note on disciplinary and grievance procedures required by s.3

Those four may be given in instalments, but no later than 2 months after the start — even if the job ends first. Everything else goes in the day-one document.

One item people drop by mistake is the probation period. s.1(4)(ga) still requires the statement to give “any probationary period, including any conditions and its duration”.

The government did drop a plan for a separate statutory probation process: its implementation timeline for the Employment Rights Act 2025 shows no such process. That has nothing to do with the written-statement rule. Keep probation in the statement.

ERA 1996 is being amended in many places by the 2025 Act. Before relying on any section of it as displayed, open legislation.gov.uk’s “Changes to Legislation” box on that section. The list of changes not yet applied is long.

Northern Ireland: an older and weaker rule

Northern Ireland did not make the 2020 changes. Its rule is Article 33 of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, and it is still in its older form:

“(1) Where an employee begins employment with an employer, the employer shall give to the employee a written statement of particulars of employment. (2) The statement may (subject to Article 34(4)) be given in instalments and (whether or not given in instalments) shall be given not later than two months after the beginning of the employment.”

Three differences follow. The statement may come in instalments. The whole statement may come later than day one. And the right belongs to employees only, not workers.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 does not change this. Its s.158 extends the headline reforms to England, Wales and Scotland only.

A Northern Ireland charity may still choose to give the Great Britain treatment — one document, on day one, to workers too. That is lawful and goes further than the minimum. But it is a choice, not the Northern Ireland legal requirement, and it should not be described as one.

For a senior post, one more check

Most appointments do not need this. But if the post is a senior management function, the rules that disqualify someone from being a trustee apply to the post too. The Charities Act 2011, s.178(3), says so for England and Wales.

The test is about function, not job title. A post is caught if either is true:

• it involves managing the charity, and the post-holder answers only to the trustees — typically the chief executive
• it involves control over money, and the post-holder answers only to the trustees or to a senior manager who does not control money — typically the finance lead

The Charity Commission says a charity “must ask a prospective senior manager/trustee to sign a declaration to confirm that they are not disqualified”. It publishes a sample senior-manager declaration alongside the trustee one.

Treat the declaration as a companion to the right-to-work check, done at the same time. The grounds for disqualification themselves are set out in the governance hub’s step check every trustee’s eligibility.

The criminal risk here runs the other way from the rest of this page. Under s.183(1), it is an offence for a person to hold such an office or employment while disqualified. The offence is committed by the disqualified person who takes or keeps the post. The Charities Act creates no offence for the charity that appointed them. The charity’s exposure is regulatory: failing to run the check is a governance failure the Commission can act on.

Scotland has the same extension, under s.69B of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, but only from 31 August 2025. Scottish charities have had this duty for a much shorter time than English and Welsh ones.

Northern Ireland has no equivalent. Its disqualification rules reach trustees only, not staff. That is a real difference in the law, not a gap in this guide.

The first employee checklist, before day one

In order:

1. The offer, in writing and signed.
2. For a senior post, the signed disqualification declaration.
3. The right-to-work check, before the start date, dated and copied.
4. The written statement, complete on or before day one — apart from the four items that may follow. In Northern Ireland, within the Article 33 rule, though you may choose to do more.

A contract outline template is on the way: Contract outline (planned). Once the person has started, the pension comes next: set up the workplace pension.

Common mistake: treating the right-to-work check as a chore rather than the defence

It looks like immigration paperwork unrelated to the charity. But the civil penalty attaches to not having done the check, not to the person’s status. Doing it correctly and keeping the copy is the whole of the statutory excuse. The maximum penalty is set by order and can move.

Common mistake: reading the offence as “we are fine unless we actually knew”

The criminal limb is usually quoted as the s.21(1) “knowing” offence. s.21(1A) — “has reasonable cause to believe” — has been in force since 12 July 2016. Not asking does not take an employer outside it. Whether an employer had reasonable cause to believe is a question of fact.

Common mistake: seeing the document but not copying and keeping it

The document was seen, so the check feels done. The prescribed requirements include copying it, keeping the copy and repeating the check before any time-limited permission runs out. Without the copy, the excuse cannot be shown.

Common mistake: holding back most of the written statement for a later deadline

The pre-2020 model is the one people remember. Now only four items may follow later. Everything else is due on day one, in a single document, and it is owed to workers as well as employees. (Northern Ireland is the exception — see the Northern Ireland section.)

Common mistake: dropping the probation period because statutory probation was abandoned

The dropped plan for a statutory probation process is a different thing. s.1(4)(ga) still requires the statement to give any probationary period, with its conditions and duration.

Worked example

Tollgate Youth CIO makes an offer to its first employee, a youth worker who starts soon.

The manager sends a written offer, and the youth worker signs it. The post is not a senior management function — the youth worker reports to the manager, not to the trustees — so no disqualification declaration is needed.

Before the start date, the manager checks the youth worker’s right to work by one of the accepted methods. She copies the evidence, dates it and files it. The youth worker’s permission is not time-limited, so there is no expiry to diary.

On the first day, the youth worker receives the written statement as one document. It includes the probation period. The pension details follow afterwards, within the deadline for the four deferrable items.

Tollgate also uses two sessional tutors for summer workshops. Until s.48 of the 2025 Act comes into force they sit outside the right-to-work regime. Tollgate notes the change and diaries a review of how it engages them.