Tony Machin from TrustID explains why a diverse market of Digital Verification Services that have all been certified against standards under the government’s new Trust Framework is a better solution for employers.  

Think about the range of organisations that have to check someone’s right to work in the UK. A national retailer onboarding thousands of seasonal staff in October. A care agency filling shifts at short notice. A university hiring researchers from around the world. A family-run restaurant taking on its third waiter. A recruitment agency placing contractors on behalf of hundreds of clients. They all face the same legal duty to carry out a Right to Work check before the employee starts work, and the same penalties if they get it wrong. What they may not share is anything else: their volumes, their systems, their budgets, their workforces, or the way their candidates prefer to apply.

That is why the introduction of digital RtW checks for UK and Irish citizens in 2022 to sit along manual and e-visa (share code) checks was a step in the right direction to making RtW checks easier for both employees and employers. Government sets the standard. The Home Office defines what a compliant right-to-work check looks like. Independent, UKAS-accredited assessors test providers against the DVS Trust Framework. Those that pass are certified and listed on a public register. Employers then choose the certified provider that fits how they work.

For a high-volume employer, that might mean a provider that plugs straight into its applicant tracking system and handles thousands of checks a week. For a small business, it might be a simple standalone, pay-as-you-go service with no integration at all. For a sector with a mobile or shift-based workforce, it might be a provider whose app works well on a cheap phone with a poor signal. Same standard. Different fit.

Choice brings three practical benefits.

Confidence without compromise. Every certified provider has been independently assessed against the same rules for the provision of digital RtW checks for UK and Irish citizens. An employer can therefore choose on price, speed, ease of use or the range of other RtW services offered (support with manual or e-visa checks are offered by some certified providers but are not subject to the same regulatory standards) and not worry about the standard of check for those conducted digitally for UK and Irish employees.

Competition that drives improvement. Providers compete on service, accessibility and cost. That pressure has already pushed checks that once took days down to minutes, and it keeps pushing.

No single point of dependency. If one service is unavailable, changes its terms or stops meeting an employer’s needs, there are others ready to step in — all meeting the same standard. Employers are never locked in.

The Information Gateway established under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 will facilitate further expansion of digital RtW checks by allowing certified providers to check against authoritative government records such as the Home Office e-visa database.  A single API made available by the Home Office will ensure that the standard behind every certified provider’s check rests on the same trusted foundation.

The right-to-work rules are only growing in reach and importance. Employers deserve a system that meets them where they are, rather than asking every one of them to fit the same mould. A choice of certified providers, all held to a government standard, does exactly that.

 The Association of Digital Verification Professionals represents the UK’s digital verification industry and works to make the DVS Trust Framework a practical reality. Find out more at advp.org.uk.