Changes from 1 October 2026

From 1 October 2026, the scope of the UK’s Right to Work Scheme widens significantly. This is directly relevant to theatre companies, who often engage freelance writers, producers, directors, creatives and crew on a self-employed contract.

What’s changing?

Currently, right to work checks are mainly required for employees/ workers under a contract of employment. From 1 October 2026, the definition of “employer” under the Scheme is extended to also cover anyone who engages an individual:

• Under a worker’s contract (i.e. someone engaged personally to perform work who isn’t running their own independent business) .This is likely to catch many freelance performers and technicians engaged directly by a company.
• As an individual sub-contractor, where that person has been engaged to provide work under a wider chain of contracts (e.g. via a producing partner or agency arrangement). or
• Through an online matching service that connects service providers with clients for a fee.

A civil penalty for these new arrangements will only arise where the engagement started on or after 1 October 2026.

Who is not affected?

The guidance is clear that this does not apply to individuals operating a genuinely independent business who contract directly with clients. A company purchasing a defined service from another business, such as engaging a casting agency to provide cast, or hiring a specialist company to deliver technical services, is also generally outside scope, provided the arrangement is a genuine service purchase and not simply the onward supply of individual workers.

“Extended liability” — supply chains and co-productions

A new provision (Section 15A of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006) means liability for a civil penalty can, in certain circumstances, extend up a contractual chain beyond the organisation directly engaging the worker. This could be relevant where an ITC company:

• Contracts with another company or intermediary who in turn engages the individual performers/crew doing the work; or
• Allows a contract to include a substitution clause (i.e. permits an engaged individual to send someone else in their place) — companies relying on such clauses will need identity-verification and right to work processes covering any substitute, not just the named individual.

Practical steps for companies before 1 October 2026

• Review how you currently engage freelance performers, creatives, crew and any subcontracted labour, and identify which arrangements will now fall inside the Right to Work Scheme.
• Review template contracts/agreements for the required terms if you engage individuals through intermediaries, or permit substitution clauses.
• Make sure right to work checks (manual document check, Home Office online check via share code, or a check through a registered digital verification service provider) are being carried out and evidenced correctly. They need to be done before work commences and retained for the duration of engagement plus two years.
• Note that a digital image of an individual’s name and National Insurance number, issued by or on behalf of a government agency, can now be accepted as supporting evidence when combined with an acceptable document from the standard lists.