The Standard
One in six UK workers is employed in retail. Every hire — seasonal, part-time, head office or concession — carries the same duty: prove the right to work before day one. RetailChecks turns that duty into a signature process.
Under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, every UK employer must conduct a prescribed right to work check before employing anyone. There is no exception for retail, and there is no exception for a busy Saturday before Christmas.
Right to work is the legal baseline; identity is the practical one. Retail losses through unauthorised employment and fake documentation are real, and they begin at onboarding.
A right to work record must survive inspection: correct at the time of the check, stored correctly, retrievable on demand. Our records are structured to pass a Home Office audit first time.
Retail hiring is fast, seasonal and spread across dozens of locations. The process must be fast enough to keep up and rigorous enough to hold up.
Why it matters
Civil penalties for employing an illegal worker start at £45,000 per worker for a first breach, rising to £60,000 for repeat breaches. The statutory excuse — a correctly conducted check — is the only complete defence. It costs a fraction of the risk it removes.
One process, every store, every hire — so the hundredth check is as correct as the first.
Records organised for inspection the moment the Home Office calls, not after a week in a filing cabinet.
Rule changes land in your process before they land on your desk. We track the guidance so you don't have to.
How it works
Share the role and start date. We confirm which check applies — share code or documents.
They generate their share code on gov.uk or upload their documents. Takes minutes, from any device.
Our team completes the prescribed check, issues the result within 24 hours and files the audit-ready record.
Pricing
Single
Store
Group
*The Home Office online checking service is free of charge. RetailChecks fees cover verification, record-keeping and audit support. VAT applies to UK business pricing. No minimum contract on Single.
Intelligence
A right to work check is the process UK employers must complete before employing someone, to confirm they have the legal right to work in the UK. It is a legal requirement under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, and applies to every worker — including seasonal and part-time retail staff.
A share code is generated on the gov.uk online right to work checking service. It gives an employer secure, real-time confirmation of a worker's immigration status. Share-code checks are the modern, statutory-excuse-compliant way to verify workers who hold digital status.
It depends on the worker's documents. British and Irish citizens typically use passports; EU citizens who arrived after 2021 usually hold digital status (share code); other workers hold BRPs, visas or certificates. We confirm the right check for each hire before anything is charged.
Most checks are completed within 24 hours of the worker completing their part. Store accounts with priority turnaround receive results in as little as 12 hours — comfortably inside the tightest seasonal hiring window.
Only what the Home Office requires, for exactly as long as it requires. Records are stored securely in line with GDPR and retained for the statutory period. On leaving RetailChecks, your full compliance history is exported to you.
We will audit your existing records free of charge and tell you honestly whether your process creates the statutory excuse. Many retailers keep internal checks and use us for surge capacity and second-opinion reviews.
"We onboarded 140 seasonal staff across nine stores in six weeks. Every record passed audit. That is what compliance should feel like — calm."Retail Operations Director, multi-site fashion group