Digital Right to Work Checks in eBulk

On 27th December 2021, the UK Government released their policy paper on Digital identity document validation technology (IDVT), announcing that from the 6th of April 2022 IDVT will be introduced to support employers with right to work and pre-employment DBS checks, which was later deferred until 30th September 2022. Digital identity has been developed to provide a more efficient, digital solution to proving an individual’s identity; eliminating the need to manually locate and supply hard copies of documents multiple times over, for what are often relatively simple transactions. Users will be able to hold a digital version of their identity which has been proven by a certified identity service provider (IDSP).

In the guidance released on 17th January 2022, the government confirmed that Digital Identities could be used for Right to Work checks and criminal record (DBS) checks. It has been confirmed that with regards to Right to Work checks, IDVT will only be available for verifying the identity of valid British and Irish Passports (or Irish Passport cards) and that the final stage of the process will involve the employer verifying that the image provided to the IDSP is a true likeness of the individual via an in-person meeting or a video call, as the liability still sits with the employer. This is often referred to as the “imposter check” and it will ensure that statutory excuse is obtained in line with Home Office guidance. If the likeness/imposter check is not carried out following the result of the digital check and prior to the individual starting in their role, you would not achieve statutory excuse.

British or Irish candidates who are unable to produce a valid passport or passport card, must still have the right to work element verified using a manual document check (i.e., expired passport, birth certificate etc). Non-UK nationals must have their right to work checked via the traditional route – for the majority, this will be via the online right to work check service, due to the removal of Biometric Residence Permits from the acceptable documents list.

As you may be aware from our previous communications regarding Digital identity checks to support with conducting the ID check to support with DBS applications, Security Watchdog have partnered with TrustID, who can be found on the GOV.UK list of certified IDSPs (section 5).

Whilst we have completed our development of the Digital identity for DBS ID checking solution within eBulkPlus in November, which is now available for all users to request, we began developing a solution to also offer the ability for Digital Right to Work in the UK checks which can be requested alongside a DBS application, or on their own, depending on the configuration of your organisation on our eBulkPlus system. The aim of this solution is to support our clients with conducting a Right to Work check for UK & Irish nationals, as well as non-UK nationals where an online Share Code check will be able to be requested via this service. Further information on the new Right to Work guidance, including information on Digital identity, can be found by clicking here. These checks will be processed via TrustID whose services support with both UK/Irish nationals with a current valid passport and non-UK nationals where an online Share Code check can be run.

Please see below further information as to how you will be able to go about requesting these checks once live in eBulkPlus:

• A new drop-down box will become available when performing a digital ID check as part of a DBS application, which allows the user to specify whether they wish to carry out just a Digital ID check or a Right to Work + Digital ID check combined. This will again depend however on the configuration of your organisation on eBulkPlus.
• A new section in the header of a DBS application if a Right to Work check has been requested that will display the status of the check and the result of the Right to Work check once carried out
• A new stand-alone Right to Work application has been created to allow Right to Work checks to be carried out without a DBS application being in progress
• When using the ‘Create Invite’ feature, you will now be able to invite an applicant to complete a Right to Work application
• This can be a Right to Work check on its own or can be a Right to Work check + a Digital ID check for DBS if you are planning on submitting a DBS application for this applicant in the future
• Once the applicant has submitted their Right to Work application, they will be invited to complete their digital check via TrustID
• Once completed, the Right to Work application will move to the ‘Completed’ queue on the dashboard and will contain the result of the Right to Work (+ Digital ID check for DBS if requested) with the opportunity to download the PDF report made available by TrustID

If you wish to utilise this new service once it goes live in eBulkPlus, below are the charges associated to this new service:

• Digital Right to Work in the UK Check requested on its own as a stand-alone service - £4.00 + VAT per applicant
• Digital Right to Work in the UK Check + Digital DBS ID Check, both alongside a DBS application or as a standalone service - £6.00 + VAT per applicant

We are hoping to deploy this new technology into our eBulkPlus systems during Q1 2023, further details of which will follow once we are in a position to begin deploying the new technology into our live systems.

Should you have any queries at this stage with regards to this new service, please do not hesitate to contact us.