UK Right to Work Rules 2026: The House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee has drawn the Immigration (Restrictions on Employment and Residential Accommodation) (Amendment) Regulations 2026, laid as a negative statutory instrument on 23 July 2026, to the notice of MPs.
The laws revise the requirements and norms of practice employers and landlords must follow when checking a person’s right to work or rent in the UK.
Key changes align the guidance with the Home Office’s move to digital status: eVisa share-codes take the place of Biometric Residence Permit details as the primary evidence; the lists of acceptable documents are simplified; and civil-penalty bands increase to a maximum £60,000 for repeat breaches, similar to the increases announced in 2025 but not yet implemented in secondary law.
The document will automatically become law unless either House passes a resolution to revoke it before 16 September when it is classed as “made negative”.
The Committee’s 9th Report does not reject the policy but calls on ministers to issue updated employer guidance without delay, noting that “frequent regulatory changes create compliance uncertainty for SMEs”.
For mobility teams, the stakes are tremendous.
Businesses need to update their onboarding protocols, make sure HR systems are utilising share-codes rather than BRP numbers, and notify housing-relocation providers about the new right-to-rent process.
Landlords who do not adapt to the changes will face a maximum fine of £15,000 and the potential loss of their licence in high risk areas identified by the local council.
The provisions apply UK-wide, and the devolved administrations will copy the recommendations, but enforcement will be retained by the Home Office’s Civil Penalty Compliance Unit.
Employers anticipating substantial intakes of September graduates should prepare refresher training well in advance of the instrument’s effective date – projected to be 1 October 2026 – to avoid last-minute scrambles for documents.