Right to work checks: what operators need to know
From 1 October 2026, the Home Office’s right to work scheme is due to cover more working arrangements, including certain self-employed and subcontracted work. For taxi and private hire operators, this raises an obvious question: if a licensing authority has already checked a driver’s right to work before issuing their badge, why might the operator need to carry out a check too?
The two checks serve different purposes. The licensing authority checks whether a person is entitled to hold a taxi or private hire licence. The expanded Home Office scheme concerns the responsibilities of a business that engages someone to provide work or services. Depending on how an operator works with its drivers, both sets of requirements may apply. A current driver’s badge does not automatically establish that the operator has met its responsibilities under the Home Office scheme.
The change has prompted concern about the time operators have had to prepare. In a Facebook post on 8 September, PHTM warned readers of “New right-to-work enforcement duties from 1 October 2026.” Steve Wright, chair of the Licensed Private Hire Car Association (LPHCA), has criticised the Home Office’s communication with the trade. He says he has written to the government seeking better engagement and intends to ask for a pause to implementation or penalties. That is a request from the LPHCA; no postponement has been announced.
Cordic’s Fleet Operations Partner, Rachel Dale, also raised the issue at a recent Institute of Licensing meeting. She asked the Institute to approach the Home Office for clarification on what the new requirements mean for taxi and private hire operators, particularly where licensing authorities already check drivers before granting a licence.
What checks already take place?
Licensing authorities have been required to check the immigration status of taxi and private hire licence applicants since 2016. They must not grant a licence to someone disqualified from holding it because of their immigration status. Where a person’s permission to work is time limited, their licence cannot run beyond that permission. These requirements remain in place.
There is a separate HMRC tax check for certain taxi driver, private hire driver and private hire operator licence applications and renewals. The applicant completes the check and supplies a code, which the licensing authority confirms. This is a check connected to tax registration where necessary. It is not a check of every driver’s PAYE tax code and does not establish that all tax due has been paid.
Neither process automatically answers whether an operator has met its own right to work responsibilities when engaging a driver.
Are self-employed drivers included?
They can be. The expanded Home Office scheme covers individual subcontractors, people engaged under certain worker’s contracts and some online services that match service providers with customers. What matters is how the relationship works in practice. Calling a driver “self-employed” or a “partner” in an agreement does not, by itself, decide whether the operator must carry out a check.
An operator should consider who engages the driver, who promises to provide the journey and who actually carries it out. A business engaging an individual driver directly may have different responsibilities from one purchasing a defined service from an independent transport company.
The new rules also allow liability to extend beyond the business with the direct relationship to a worker in certain circumstances. These include some subcontracting arrangements and contracts that allow another person to substitute for the original worker. The Home Office makes clear that this does not apply to every business purchasing services from another business. The contracts and the way the work is organised both matter.
At the time of writing, the Home Office’s updated employer guide is still labelled as a draft. It states that, for the newly covered working arrangements, a civil penalty may be imposed where the engagement begins on or after 1 October 2026. Operators should check the final guidance when it appears, particularly if they have questions about drivers already working with them or arrangements involving other companies.
What should operators do now?
The first step is to understand how drivers provide work through the business. Review employed drivers, self-employed individuals engaged directly, drivers supplied by another operator or company, and arrangements where someone else may carry out a journey as a substitute. Look at the written agreements, then compare them with what happens when bookings are accepted and dispatched.
Where the business is responsible for checking an individual, it must follow a method permitted by the Home Office. Depending on the person’s circumstances, that may be a check of eligible original documents, an online check using a share code, or an approved digital identity route. The operator must be satisfied that the evidence belongs to the person doing the work and that any restrictions allow them to do it. It should keep the required record and arrange a follow-up check where permission is time limited. Checks must be applied consistently, without assumptions based on someone’s name, appearance or nationality.
Where another business supplies drivers, establish who carries out the checks and what evidence is available that the relevant requirements have been met. The draft Home Office guidance recognises that a business may use another party’s systems in some circumstances, provided it takes reasonable steps to satisfy itself that those systems are effective. Simply retaining a copy of a council badge should not be assumed to settle the question.
What are the penalties?
If illegal working is found and a business cannot establish the relevant statutory defence, a civil penalty can reach £45,000 per worker for a first breach and £60,000 per worker for a repeat breach. These are maximum amounts, not automatic fines for a missing document. Knowingly employing an illegal worker, or having reasonable cause to believe someone is working illegally, may also lead to prosecution, with a maximum of five years’ imprisonment and an unlimited fine. A civil penalty may affect an operator’s taxi or private hire licence.
The trade needs clear guidance on how these rules apply alongside existing licensing checks. Rachel Dale’s request to the Institute of Licensing and the LPHCA’s representations reflect that concern. While clarification is sought, operators should review their own driver arrangements against the Home Office guidance and prepare on the basis of the published 1 October start date.
General information only, not legal advice.
References
Home Office, draft employer’s guide to right to work checks, updated 11 September 2026: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-work-checks-employers-guide/draft-employers-guide-to-right-to-work-checks-16-july-2026-accessible
Home Office, guidance for licensing authorities on right to work checks: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/licensing-authority-guide-to-right-to-work-checks
Home Office, response to the consultation on extending the right to work scheme: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/extending-the-right-to-work-scheme/outcome/prevention-of-illegal-working-extending-the-right-to-work-scheme-to-other-working-arrangements-government-response-accessible
Home Office, code of practice on preventing illegal working and civil penalties: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/illegal-working-penalties-codes-of-practice-for-employers/code-of-practice-on-preventing-illegal-working-right-to-work-scheme-for-employers-13-february-2024-accessible
HMRC, complete a tax check for a taxi or private hire licence: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/complete-a-tax-check-for-a-taxi-private-hire-or-scrap-metal-licence
LPHCA, “HO Failure on Right to Work Checks”: https://lphca.co.uk/rtw-checks/
PHTM, Facebook post dated 8 September 2026, “WARNING TO ALL PRIVATE HIRE OPERATORS”, as quoted above.