For many small and growing businesses, right to work checks feel like an administrative task that should be straightforward. The shift to digital immigration status was meant to make compliance easier. In practice, it has introduced new risks that are now showing up in Home Office audits.
The rules themselves have not changed. What has changed is how strictly compliance is now being assessed, particularly where employers rely on digital checks without fully understanding what to do when the system does not give a clear answer.
Digital checks are no longer a safety net
SMEs often assume that using the Home Office’s online right to work system provides automatic protection. That assumption is increasingly unsafe.
If a digital right to work check returns incomplete, unclear or inconsistent information, the Home Office now expects the employer to stop, investigate and resolve the issue before employment continues. Proceeding in the hope that the system will update later is a common mistake and one that is now attracting criticism during audits.
For small employers without dedicated HR teams, this is where risk often creeps in.
The end of informal tolerance
Over the past year, the UK immigration system has completed its move away from physical documents such as biometric residence permits. Digital records are now the primary evidence of permission to work.
During the transition, there was some practical flexibility while systems and processes settled. That flexibility has largely gone. Employers are now expected to have adapted to digital-only checks and to deal with problems as they arise. For SMEs, this means there is far less margin for error than there was even a year ago.
Follow-up checks are a common weak spot
One area where small businesses are particularly exposed is follow-up checks for workers with time-limited permission.
It is not enough to carry out an initial check and move on. Employers are expected to track visa expiry dates and complete follow-up checks on time. Missed reminders, informal arrangements or reliance on memory are now being picked up in audits.
Where follow-up checks are late or missing, the Home Office can conclude that the employer no longer has a statutory excuse, even if the worker still has permission.
How Home Office audits affect SMEs
Home Office audits are no longer limited to large organisations. Desktop audits, carried out remotely, allow the Home Office to review multiple employers at once with relatively little notice.
These audits focus less on paperwork volume and more on whether systems make sense. Inspectors look at how checks are done in practice, what happens when something does not look right and whether decisions are documented clearly.
For SMEs, a single unresolved issue can quickly raise wider questions about compliance controls.
SME perspective: what matters most
Small employers often believe compliance risk only applies to large organisations with sponsored workers. That is no longer the case.
Digital right to work checks reduce paperwork, but they do not remove responsibility. If the online result is unclear, the employer is expected to pause, investigate and resolve the issue before employment continues.
The biggest risks for SMEs come from informal processes, lack of ownership and missed follow-up checks. What feels like a minor administrative slip can escalate quickly into a civil penalty or wider compliance action.
For small businesses, the safest approach is to treat right to work checks as a core business control, not an HR afterthought.
Author
Gill Laing is a qualified Legal Researcher & Analyst with niche specialisms in Law, Tax, Human Resources, Immigration & Employment Law.
Gill is a Multiple Business Owner and the Managing Director of Prof Services Limited - a Marketing & Content Agency for the Professional Services Sector.
