Share Code Right to Work Checks: A Step-by-Step Guide for HR Teams

Key Takeaways

• A share code is a nine-character code beginning with the letter "W" that a worker generates from their UKVI account, so you can confirm their right to work online and in real time.
• Share codes are valid for 90 days from the moment they are generated. You check them free of charge at the Home Office employer service using the code plus the worker's date of birth.
• Only "W" codes are valid for right to work. Codes that begin with other letters, such as right to rent codes, must be rejected and a fresh work code requested.
• You must view the applicant, in person or by live video call, while you look at their online profile, to confirm the photograph matches the person in front of you. Keep a dated copy for the length of employment plus two years.
• The online share-code check is now the standard route for most non-British and Irish workers with digital status, including eVisa, EU Settlement Scheme and frontier worker permit holders. Expired BRPs and BRCs are no longer valid as standalone physical proof.
• From 1 October 2026 the wider Right to Work regime expands to cover many contractors and gig workers, but the share-code route remains central. Getting a consistent process in place now is the safest position.
• Share-code checks are far easier to run at scale with the right tools. WPC HR's compliance software captures share-code checks with a stored audit trail and automatic expiry alerts, and our Sponsor Licence Compliance Audit checks your existing files against current Home Office guidance.

Introduction

For most migrant workers in the UK, the paper documents that HR teams once photocopied and filed have gone. In their place is the online share code, a short alphanumeric code that unlocks a live view of a person's immigration status straight from Home Office systems. Used correctly, it is quick, free and gives you a solid statutory excuse against a civil penalty. Used carelessly, it is one of the most common places where a right to work check quietly fails.

This guide walks HR teams through the share-code check from start to finish: what a share code is, who uses one, exactly how to check it, what the result screen means, how long it lasts, and the mistakes that most often void the statutory excuse. It reflects the position in 2026, including the changes taking effect from 1 October 2026. For the individual worker's perspective on generating a code, our group's complete guide to the Right to Work share code is a useful companion piece.

What Is a Right to Work Share Code?

A share code is a nine-character code, made up of letters and numbers and beginning with the letter "W", that a worker generates from their UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account. It does not itself contain their status. Instead, it acts as a secure key that lets an employer view a live record of that person's immigration status through the Home Office online service.

The share code proves two things that matter to you as an employer: the type of work the person is allowed to do, and how long they are permitted to work in the UK. Because the record is pulled in real time, it is more reliable than a physical document, which can expire, be forged or be superseded by a later grant of status. It is important to remember that the worker's right to work comes from their visa or settled status, not from the code. The code is simply how they share that status with you.

Who Uses a Share Code, and Who Cannot?

The share-code route is designed for people whose immigration status is held digitally. British and Irish citizens cannot generate a right to work share code and must be checked a different way. The table below summarises the main groups.

How a Worker Generates a Share Code

It helps to understand the worker's side, because HR teams are often asked to guide new starters who are unsure what to send. The worker generates a code, specifically for the purpose of proving their right to work, and shares that code with you along with their date of birth. In outline, they:

1. Sign in to the Home Office prove your right to work service, or view and prove their status through their eVisa and UKVI account.
2. Confirm their identity using their passport, national identity card, or biometric card details, plus access to the phone number or email linked to their account.
3. Select the option to prove their right to work to an employer, which produces a share code beginning with "W".
4. Send you that code and their date of birth. They do not need to send you their eVisa or any screenshots.

A code produced through the right to rent or general status routes will not begin with "W" and is not acceptable for employment. If a worker sends you a code that does not start with "W", ask them to go back and choose the option to prove their right to work specifically.

Step by Step: How to Check a Share Code as an Employer

Once you have the code and the worker's date of birth, the check itself takes only a few minutes. Follow these steps every time, without shortcuts, to keep your statutory excuse intact.

1. Ask for the code and date of birth in writing. Request the share code and the worker's date of birth before their first day, and keep the request and reply on file.
2. Open the Home Office employer service. Go to the check a job applicant's right to work service on GOV.UK. There is no charge to use it.
3. Enter the code and date of birth. Input the nine-character share code and the worker's date of birth to bring up their live record.
4. Check the profile matches the role. Confirm the person is allowed to do the work on offer and, where the permission is time-limited, note the expiry date.
5. View the person alongside the photo. With the applicant present, either in person or on a live video call, confirm the photograph on the online record is the person who will be doing the job.
6. Save and date the evidence. Download or print the profile page showing the photo, status and date of the check. Record the date the check was carried out and store it securely.

Simply glancing at the screen is not enough. The two steps most often missed, viewing the person against the photo and saving a dated copy of the result, are exactly the ones a Home Office officer will look for.

What the Online Check Shows You

The result screen is designed to give you a clear yes or no, together with the detail you need to judge whether the role complies. A compliant record will typically show the person's photo, confirmation that they can work in the UK, any restrictions on the type or hours of work, and, for time-limited permission, the date it expires. Read the conditions carefully. A student visa holder, for example, may be limited to a set number of hours during term time, and placing them in a full-time role would breach those conditions even though the check itself was carried out correctly.

If the record shows the person cannot work, or that they can only do work that does not match the role, do not allow them to start. If something looks inconsistent, such as a name or date of birth that does not match their other documents, pause and resolve it before going any further.

Validity, Expiry and Follow-Up Checks

A share code is valid for 90 days from the moment it is generated, not from the date of the worker's visa. Within that window it can be used as many times as needed. Once 90 days pass, the code is deactivated and you will see an error if you try to use it. There is no penalty for an expired code in itself. The risk is employing someone without a valid check, so if a code has expired before you complete your check, simply ask the worker to generate a fresh one, which takes them a couple of minutes.

Where a worker's permission to work is time-limited, you will usually need a follow-up check before that permission expires to keep your statutory excuse. Diarise the expiry date at the point of the first check rather than relying on memory. The main exception is EU Settlement Scheme pre-settled status, where no follow-up check is required once the initial check was compliant, because the Home Office no longer shows an expiry date to employers.

Common Share Code Mistakes That Void Your Statutory Excuse

• Accepting a code that does not begin with "W", such as a right to rent code, which is not valid for employment.
• Checking the code without viewing the applicant alongside the photo, so the record is never actually matched to the person.
• Relying on a screenshot the worker sends you, rather than running the check yourself through the official employer service.
• Saving nothing, or saving an undated copy, so you cannot prove when the check was done.
• Missing the conditions on the record, for example placing a student in more hours than their visa allows.
• Forgetting to diarise a follow-up check for time-limited permission, then letting it lapse.
• Only asking certain candidates for a share code based on how they look or sound, which creates discrimination risk under the Equality Act 2010. Apply the same process to every hire.

Record-Keeping and Data Protection

Every share-code check must be backed by a secure, dated record kept for the duration of employment and for two years after the person leaves. The copy should be stored in a format that cannot be manually altered, whether that is a saved PDF or a secure system entry. Because these records contain sensitive personal data, they must be handled in line with UK GDPR: access restricted to those who need it, retained no longer than required, and disposed of securely once the retention period ends. A missing or undated record is treated the same as no check at all, so consistent storage is as important as the check itself.

Share Codes for Sponsor Licence Holders

For sponsor licence holders, share-code checks sit inside a wider set of duties. The check gives you your statutory excuse, but UKVI will also expect to see that right to work evidence is stored alongside your Appendix D records and is consistent with what you have reported through the Sponsor Management System. During a compliance visit, mismatches between a worker's share-code record, their SMS history and their file are a common finding.

Time-limited permission makes this harder to manage by hand. A sponsored worker whose visa is approaching expiry needs a follow-up check and, often, an SMS update, and missing either can affect your licence rating. If your sponsored worker files have not been reviewed against current guidance for a while, a practitioner-led compliance audit is the quickest way to find and close gaps before UKVI does.

Share Codes and the 1 October 2026 Changes

From 1 October 2026, the duty to carry out right to work checks expands beyond traditional employees to cover many contractors, agency, gig and self-employed labour arrangements, under a refreshed Code of Practice. For most of these workers, where their status is held digitally, the share-code check remains the route you will use. The practical impact for HR teams is about scope rather than method: you will need to make sure your share-code process reaches everyone now in scope, not just permanent staff.

Where you rely on a digital verification service for an eVisa holder from that date, the provider must be certified for right to work checks on the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes register. The free Home Office share-code service, however, remains available and is unaffected. Reviewing who you engage, and making sure casual and contract labour are checked to the same standard as employees, is the single most useful step to take before the deadline.

How Can WPC HR Help?

Share-code checks are simple one at a time, but they become hard to manage across a growing workforce with different visa expiry dates. WPC HR's HR compliance software runs and records eVisa share-code verification with a stored, tamper-evident audit trail, tracks every expiry date and sends automated alerts before a follow-up check is due, and flags gaps on a compliance dashboard before they become findings. If you would prefer a specialist to review your existing checks against current Home Office guidance, our Sponsor Licence Compliance Audit examines your whole sponsored workforce, not a sample, and gives you a prioritised plan to put things right.

📞 Call us: 020 8087 2343
📅 Book a free compliance audit: wpchr.co.uk/sponsor-licence-compliance-audit
🔗 See the platform: wpchr.co.uk/hr-compliance-software-features

Conclusion

The share code has made right to work checks faster and more reliable, but only for employers who follow the process to the letter. The fundamentals are straightforward: accept only a "W" code, run the check yourself through the official employer service, view the person against the photo, read the conditions, and save a dated record for the required period. Diarise any expiry dates, apply the same process to every hire, and you turn a common point of failure into a routine, defensible step.

With the regime expanding on 1 October 2026, now is the moment to make sure your share-code process is consistent and reaches everyone who needs a check. Where you want the reassurance of automation and an expert review, WPC HR can take the manual effort and the guesswork out of staying compliant.

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