right-to-work-check

---
name: right-to-work-check
description: Runs the right to work check that gives you a statutory excuse against the civil penalty for employing someone illegally, using the current Home Office guide and the online checking service rather than a manager's judgement of a passport. It works out whether the applicant needs a share code or a manual document check, records the three-step manual process where one applies, and keeps the copy for exactly as long as the law asks. Use before anyone's first shift, including a trial shift, and before you assume a face-to-face look at a document is enough.
---

# The check that is a defence, not a formality, done before the first shift

You give this the applicant's name, start date, and whatever they have sent you: a share code and date of birth, or original documents. You get back which route applies, the three-step manual check recorded where there is no share code, the retention date for the copy, and a statement of whether a statutory excuse now exists or is still missing.

## What it does

1. **Split every applicant into share code or manual document check before looking at anything else.** GOV.UK's online right to work service is used by giving "a share code and date of birth", but it also says "British and Irish citizens cannot get a share code" and directs you to check their physical documents yourself or use an online identity service provider. The skill asks which route applies before any document is examined, because using the wrong route is itself a failed check.
2. **Run the manual check as three steps, in order, never skipped.** GOV.UK's guide for a manual right to work check sets the sequence: "Ask to see the applicant's original documents", "Check that the documents are valid with the applicant present", and "Make and keep copies of the documents and record the date you made the check." It further requires that the documents are "genuine, original and unchanged and belong to the person who has given them to you." A photocopy sent by email before the applicant arrives does not satisfy step two; the presence requirement is the point most small venues miss.
3. **Use the current guide, because the rules changed on 1 October 2026.** The Home Office's "Employer's guide to right to work checks" was reissued dated 1 October 2026, following an updated draft from 11 September 2026, and sits alongside a reissued "Code of practice on preventing illegal working" of the same date. A check run against an older PDF saved on a shared drive two years ago is being run against the wrong version. The skill records which dated version of the guide it checked against.
4. **Keep the copy for exactly the period the guide sets, not "as long as seems sensible".** GOV.UK's guidance states you must "keep copies during the applicant's employment and for 2 years after they stop working for you." The skill sets a deletion or review date automatically from the leaver date, rather than leaving it to whoever remembers.
5. **State what the check buys you, and what it does not.** GOV.UK's own guidance on penalties says you "could face a civil penalty if you employ an illegal worker and have not carried out a correct right to work check", and separately that the penalty can be "up to £60,000 for each illegal worker." A correctly run and recorded check is the thing that stands between the venue and that figure; an incorrectly run one, or one run after the start date, is not.

## Then it checks

1. Every starter has a recorded route: share code with date of birth, or manual document check. No starter has neither.
2. For a manual check, all three steps are recorded in order, including the date the applicant was present.
3. The document type recorded is one that was seen as original, not a photo or scan sent in advance.
4. The guide version checked against is dated, and is the current one, not an older saved copy.
5. A retention/review date exists for every copy, set at leaver date plus two years, and no copy has passed it without review.
6. The check date is on or before the applicant's first shift, including a trial shift, for every record.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only.
- Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.
- Never give immigration advice, and never decide whether a document is genuine on the owner's behalf; it records what was checked, not a legal opinion on a disputed document.
- Never treat a trial shift, an unpaid shadow shift or a working interview as exempt from this check. The guidance covers employment, and a trial shift where someone performs work is employment for this purpose.
- Never backdate a check date to before the document was actually seen.

## Built from
- GOV.UK, "Checking a job applicant's right to work", https://www.gov.uk/check-job-applicant-right-to-work, read 4 November 2026: the three manual check steps, the genuineness test, and the two-year retention period behind steps 2 and 4.
- GOV.UK, "View a job applicant's right to work details", https://www.gov.uk/view-right-to-work, read 4 November 2026: the share code route and the British/Irish citizen exception behind step 1.
- Home Office, "Employer's guide to right to work checks: 1 October 2026", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-work-checks-employers-guide, last updated 1 October 2026, read 4 November 2026: the current dated guide version behind step 3.
- GOV.UK, "Penalties for employing illegal workers", https://www.gov.uk/penalties-for-employing-illegal-workers, read 4 November 2026: the £60,000 civil penalty figure and the correct-check defence behind step 5.

# right-to-work-check

## You are given
The applicant's name, start date, and either a share code and date of birth, or a description of the original documents they presented in person: document type, document number, expiry date if any, and the date and location they were checked. The dated version of the Home Office guide the owner is working from. The leaver date for anyone who has since left, where known.

## Produce
Write into a `./right-to-work-check-output/` folder:

1. `checks.csv` with columns: `row_ref`, `applicant_name`, `start_date`, `route` (`share_code` or `manual_document_check`), `share_code_provided`, `date_of_birth_provided`, `document_1_type`, `document_1_seen_in_person`, `document_1_check_date`, `document_2_type`, `document_2_seen_in_person`, `document_2_check_date`, `guide_version_checked_against`, `check_before_first_shift`. `seen_in_person` fields are `yes` or `no`. `check_before_first_shift` is `yes` or `no`, computed by comparing the check date to the start date.
2. `retention-schedule.csv` with columns: `row_ref`, `applicant_name`, `employment_status` (`current` or `leaver`), `leaver_date`, `retention_review_date` (leaver date plus 2 years, blank if current), `copy_held`. `copy_held` is `yes` or `no`.
3. `gaps.md` - a numbered list of: any row with `route` blank or with no document recorded; any manual check where `seen_in_person` is `no` for any document; any row where `check_before_first_shift` is `no`; any leaver row with no `retention_review_date` set; any row checked against a guide version other than the one supplied as current; and any British or Irish citizen recorded against a share code route.

## Rules
- Codex counts, checks and records. It never judges whether a document is genuine, never gives immigration advice, and never decides which document list an applicant's documents belong to.
- Never invent a document type, a check date or a share code value not supplied.
- `check_before_first_shift` and `retention_review_date` are computed only from supplied dates, never estimated.
- A trial shift or working interview is treated as employment for this schedule; it is never marked exempt.
- Any row with a document "seen" but not confirmed as seen with the applicant present is recorded as `seen_in_person: no`, never assumed `yes`.
- Use British English, GBP and DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes in any file you write.
- Every file ends with this line: this is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own recruitment records and the current Home Office guide, and for their immigration adviser or solicitor to check any disputed document or statutory excuse question. It is not immigration or legal advice and it is not confirmation that a statutory excuse exists.

## Return
The absolute path of each file written and the row count of each CSV. The number of rows on the share code route and the number on the manual check route. The number of rows where `check_before_first_shift` is `no`, named individually. The number of leaver rows missing a retention review date. The `gaps.md` item count in full.