1 July 2021

BPIF LEGAL - EU CITIZENS NO LONGER HAVE THE AUTOMATIC RIGHT TO WORK IN THE UK

All UK employers are legally required to ensure that anyone working for them is legally entitled to do so. Anyone with a UK passport is entitled to work in the UK. Any EU citizens wanting to continue to work in the UK after 30 June 2021 should have applied for either:

• "Settled status" if they have been living in the UK continuously for at least five years before the end of 2020; or

• "Pre-settled" status if they have been here for less than five years.

Any EU citizen who has not applied for one of the above would technically become an illegal immigrant from 1 July 2021 which means that employing them could be illegal and you could be fined. However, there is some transitional relief available until 21 December 2021 which needs to be consulted if you find an employee has not applied prior to 1 July 2021. 

In anticipation of this, the UK Home Office has now published an updated draft code of practice on preventing illegal working (the code of practice). The code of practice takes effect on 1 July 2021, and is focused on the civil penalty regime rather than criminal liability.

Employees or workers who have not applied before the 30 June deadline may also face a number of other problems, such as being asked to pay for  NHS services,  no longer being  able to receive benefits such as Working Family Tax credit and they potentially face eviction from rented accommodation.

What do employers need to do?

Employers should review personnel files to check that you have the appropriate identity documents to employ staff and consult the current guidance on right to work checks which has been recently updated:- 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-work-checks-employers-guide

The main changes relate to EEA / Swiss Nationals.

The draft code of practice is set out on the UK.Gov website

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/illegal-working-penalties-codes-of-practice-for-employers-2018

You should ask anyone who is an EU citizen if they have applied for a declaration of their status and if so, provide proof of their application. Non British passport holders who are not EU citizens require work visas.