Do Courier Companies Need to Check a Driver’s Right to Work? UK Rules Explained

Yesterday we closed out four weeks of posts on the insurance a same day courier needs, ending on the point that a properly run operator holds motor, employers’ liability, public liability and goods in transit cover because the law and the client both expect it. Insurance is about what happens if something goes wrong once a driver is on the road. It says nothing about whether that driver was legally allowed to start the job in the first place. That’s a separate check, and one we haven’t covered in this series yet: whether a courier company has to confirm a driver’s right to work in the UK before they take on their first job.

What Is a Right to Work Check, and Why Does a Courier Company Need One?

A right to work check is the process an employer uses to confirm that someone is legally allowed to work in the UK, and, if there are any restrictions on that permission, what they are. Carried out correctly, before employment starts, it gives the employer what the Home Office calls a statutory excuse: protection against a penalty for employing someone who turns out not to have the right to work, provided the check itself was done properly and in good faith. For a courier company taking on new drivers, whether directly employed or supplied through an agency, that check sits alongside the DBS check we covered earlier in this series as one of the two things worth confirming before anyone gets the keys to a van.

Is a Right to Work Check a Legal Requirement for Courier Companies?

Yes, for anyone taken on as an employee. Employers must check that a job applicant is allowed to work for them in the UK before employment starts, and the Home Office sets out two main routes: checking the applicant’s right to work online if they’ve been given a share code, or checking their original documents in person. British and Irish citizens can’t get an online share code, so their documents, a passport or passport card, need to be checked physically, or verified through an identity service provider using Identity Document Validation Technology. Anyone else needs their permission to work checked, including any limit on the type of work or number of hours allowed, and the dates that permission runs to.

What Happens If a Courier Company Gets This Wrong?

The exposure here is separate from, and in some ways sharper than, anything we covered in the insurance posts. If a courier company employs someone without the right to work and hasn’t carried out the check correctly, it can be sent a referral notice followed by a civil penalty notice of up to £60,000 for each illegal worker, with 28 days to respond or object. The business’s details can also be published by Immigration Enforcement as a warning to other employers. Where an employer knew, or had reasonable cause to believe, that someone didn’t have the right to work and employed them anyway, that’s a criminal offence carrying up to five years in prison and an unlimited fine. None of this applies if the correct check was carried out and recorded properly, which is the entire point of doing it before the job starts rather than after a problem shows up.

Does This Apply to Self-Employed Subcontractors and Owner-Drivers?

This is where it gets genuinely different for a courier company compared with most employers, because a large share of the industry runs on self-employed owner-drivers and subcontracted fleets rather than direct employees. Home Office guidance is clear that the statutory right to work check isn’t required to establish the same statutory excuse where someone is genuinely self-employed and engaged under a contract for services, rather than employed. The word doing the work in that sentence is “genuinely”. Whether a driver is truly self-employed or actually functions as an employee or worker in substance depends on how the relationship runs in practice, not just what the contract calls it, and getting that classification wrong carries its own risks well beyond right to work compliance. Where a courier company brings in drivers through an agency or another subcontracted business, sensible practice, and what the Home Office’s own guidance for employers recommends, is checking that whoever is supplying those drivers is carrying out right to work checks on them, rather than assuming it’s someone else’s problem.

How Does a Courier Company Actually Carry Out the Check?

For anyone being taken on as an employee, the check needs to happen before their first day. That means asking to see original documents with the applicant present, checking that photos and dates of birth match across every document, making copies that can’t be altered, and recording the date the check was made. Where a driver has provided a share code instead, the check happens online through the Home Office service, which returns real-time confirmation and any restrictions directly rather than relying on a physical document. If the applicant’s right to work is time-limited, for example tied to a visa with an expiry date, a follow-up check needs to be diarised and carried out before that date passes, not after.

What Records Does a Courier Company Need to Keep?

Copies of the documents checked, along with the date the check was carried out, need to be kept for the duration of the person’s employment and for two years after they stop working for the company. That record is what supports the statutory excuse if the check is ever questioned later, so it needs to survive staff turnover in the office as well as on the road. Anyone handling this data also needs to keep it in line with data protection law, since these are copies of passports, visas and other identity documents rather than routine paperwork.

A Quick Recap: Right to Work Checks vs the Other Driver Checks We Run

A right to work check and a DBS check answer two different questions, and a courier company taking on drivers properly needs both, not one instead of the other. The right to work check confirms someone is legally allowed to work in the UK at all. The DBS check, covered earlier in this series, confirms whether they have a criminal record relevant to the sites and clients they’ll be working with. Add in a valid licence, the eyesight standard, and hire and reward insurance rated correctly for the vehicle they’re driving, and that’s the full picture of who we let behind the wheel before a single job goes out.

Every driver who joins our fleet, whether employed directly or engaged as a subcontractor, is checked before their first job leaves the yard. Call our controllers on 020 4525 2039 or get a fixed quote online.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do courier companies need to check a driver’s right to work in the UK?

Yes, for anyone taken on as an employee. The check has to be carried out before employment starts, either online using a share code or by checking original documents in person, and it gives the employer a statutory excuse against penalties if it’s done correctly.

Does a right to work check apply to self-employed courier drivers?

Not in the same way. Home Office guidance says the statutory check isn’t required for someone genuinely self-employed under a contract for services. Whether a driver is genuinely self-employed depends on how the working relationship actually operates, not just what the contract says.

What happens if a courier company doesn’t carry out a right to work check properly?

It can face a civil penalty of up to £60,000 for each illegal worker, and its details can be published by Immigration Enforcement. Knowingly employing someone without the right to work is a criminal offence carrying up to five years in prison and an unlimited fine.

How does a courier company carry out a right to work check?

Either by checking the applicant’s right to work online using a share code, which returns real-time confirmation from the Home Office, or by checking their original documents in person and keeping copies. British and Irish citizens must be checked using original documents or an identity service provider, since they can’t get an online share code.

How long do courier companies need to keep right to work check records?

For the duration of the person’s employment and for two years after they stop working for the company. Diarised follow-up checks are also needed if the person’s right to work is time-limited.