Right to work checks for labour-only subcontractors and gangs

From 1 October 2026, if you take on a labour-only subcontractor to work on a job a customer has contracted you to do, you must check their right to work before they start. With a gang, whoever takes each worker on does the check: if a gang boss brings and pays their own men, the gang boss checks them, and you protect yourself by agreeing a written statement of right to work terms with the gang boss before the work begins.

Do I need to check a labour-only subcontractor's right to work?

Yes, from 1 October 2026, if you take them on to work on a job a customer has contracted you to do. The Home Office treats a labour-only subcontractor you engage personally as an individual sub-contractor, so you must check their right to work before their first day.

It does not matter that they bring no materials, have a UTR or are paid through CIS. The Home Office guide says the rules follow how the arrangement really works, not the label, and that a contract can be spoken or written. A phone call agreeing a day rate counts.

Who checks the men in a gang?

Whoever takes each worker on. If you agree terms with each gang member yourself, you check each one. If a gang boss or labour supplier takes the men on and pays them, the gang boss must check them, and you protect yourself with a written statement of right to work terms agreed with the gang boss before the work starts.

If the gang boss works on site too, they are your own individual sub-contractor, so check them yourself as well.

The Home Office calls the second case "extended liability". Its own Example 7 is a construction company that wins a house-building contract and uses a chain of contracts to bring in workers for the foundations and bricklaying. The guide says the construction company may be treated as the employer of everyone who works through that chain.

What must the written statement say?

The guide says it must be in place before the work starts, and the contract with the gang boss or labour supplier must:

1. require them to do the official right to work check on every person they put on the job;
2. stop them passing the work on to anyone else without your written consent, and pass the same right to work duties down if you agree;
3. let you audit their checks;
4. let you take action, such as suspending or ending the contract, if illegal working is found and they had not done the checks;
5. require them to help any Home Office investigation, including details of everyone in the chain.

There is no set wording, but the guide says pointing to similar terms buried elsewhere in your paperwork is not enough. You can rely on the gang boss's word that checks were done, as long as you take reasonable steps to make sure that word can be trusted, and you need a sensible way to confirm the people turning up are the people who were checked.

A worked example

What if the gang boss sends different people each week?

Every person who works on the job needs a check before they start. If your contract lets someone send a substitute, the Home Office says the check on the substitute must not be left to the worker, and no substitute may start before their right to work has been verified.

Can I be fined if the gang boss did not check his men?

Possibly. The Home Office first goes after the business with the direct contract with the worker. If that business cannot be found, it may pursue another business in the chain that did not meet the requirements. The fine is up to £45,000 per worker, or up to £60,000 for a repeat breach.

The guide says it would not normally fine more than one business in a chain for the same worker. A correct check, or the written statement and checks above, done before work starts and kept on file, is your legal defence, called a statutory excuse. There is no grace period. The date that counts is when the arrangement was agreed: a gang agreed before 1 October 2026 is not caught just because the work carries on.

What to do, step by step

1. Work out who takes each worker on: you, or a gang boss or labour firm.
2. Check everyone you take on yourself before day one, with a share code on gov.uk/view-right-to-work or their original documents.
3. For a gang boss's men, sign the written statement first, then ask for copies of their checks.
4. Keep a daily list of who is on site and match it to the checks.
5. Keep the records for as long as the work lasts and for 2 years after.