The Right-to-Work Gap in a Rolling Rota
Priya runs a small security company and is onboarding Daniel, a 27-year-old who holds a biometric residence permit showing leave to remain with work permitted until 30 September. Today is 1 August. Daniel will work door supervision at three venues on a rolling rota. Priya's office manager takes a photocopy of the permit, writes 'seen' on it, and files it. Daniel's shift pattern runs into October. No follow-up date is diarised. Priya also has not checked whether Daniel's permission covers the specific role, only that 'work' is permitted.
1. Identify the statutory right-to-work check failures in Priya's process and explain the consequence for the employer.
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Failures:
- Copy quality/annotation: The check requires a clear, legible copy retained securely, with the date the check was made recorded. 'Seen' with no date is inadequate.
- Time-limited permission: The permit expires 30 September. For time-limited leave, the employer must record the expiry date and diarise a follow-up check before expiry. Priya has not done this.
- Scope of permission: Priya checked only that 'work' is permitted, not whether the role is within the conditions. She should confirm the permission covers the work offered.
- Rolling rota into October: Shifts scheduled after 30 September create a period where employment continues without verified permission.
Consequence: A compliant check gives a statutory excuse against a civil penalty. Because the check is defective and no follow-up is diarised, Priya loses that excuse for any period after expiry. She should redo the check properly now, record the date, diarise a re-check before 30 September (e.g. mid-September), and not roster Daniel beyond expiry unless fresh evidence is obtained.
2. Priya asks whether she can simply 'keep an eye on it' rather than diarising a formal follow-up. Advise her, and state what she should do if Daniel cannot produce new evidence by 30 September.
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'Keeping an eye on it' is not a system. The statutory excuse depends on a documented, repeatable process. Priya should:
- Record the date of the initial check and retain a clear copy.
- Enter the expiry date (30 September) in a compliance diary with a re-check deadline comfortably before it (e.g. 15 September).
- On re-check, obtain and copy fresh evidence of continuing permission.
If no evidence by 30 September: The permission to work ends. Priya must not continue to employ Daniel in the role beyond that date. She should pause rostering, seek the evidence, and if it is not produced, end the engagement. Continuing to roster him after expiry without verified permission removes the statutory excuse and exposes the business to a civil penalty. The decision must be made on evidence, not on trust or convenience.