Document checks
The law requires that all employers need to make some basic checks on every person they want to employ. By doing these checks you can make sure you are not breaking the law by employing illegal workers.
There are penalties for employing someone who is not allowed to work so it is important that you carry out these checks.
You should check that each of your personal assistants has any one of these and keep a photocopy of the document for your own records:
- a document giving their permanent National Insurance number and name and a full birth certificate issued in the UK, which includes parents’ names.
- a passport or other Home Office document which states they have a current right to live and work in the United Kingdom
- an application registration card from the Home Office to an asylum seeker stating that they can work in the UK.
If you have carried out these checks and found out that someone is not allowed to work you should not employ them.
Further information and lists of documentary evidence to work in the UK are available from the UK Visas and Immigration.