Today FIS hosted a webinar on covering the topics of Right to Work and Modern Slavery. Delegates were made aware that they are two very different and important subjects and should not be confused.

From July this year, in line with the new points based immigration system, all employers will be required to conduct right to work checks to ensure that their workforce is legal to work in the UK. Remember EU workers (excluding the Republic of Ireland) who have not applied through the settlement scheme by the 30 June will not be legal workers and this may have serious implications for your business. Beyond your legal responsibility to ensure someone is legal to work, it is also vital that we look for and ensure that our workforce is not exploiting individuals through modern slavery. The cost and implications of getting it wrong are serious.

FIS was joined by experts Pamela Zielinski, Construction Programme Manager from Stronger Together and Joanne Young a consultant for the Association of Labour Providers who discussed the risks and how to manage them. The presentations covered:

1. Right To Work offences and sanctions
2. The statutory excuse
3. Manual right to work checks
4. Online right to work checks
5. Impact of coronavirus on RTW checks
6. Routes to work in the UK
7. EU Workers – the grace period
8. Changes from June
9. Retrospective checks
10. How to identify Modern Slavery, what to do if you suspect and the risk of getting it wrong

Visit the FIS Modern Slavery Toolkit here