On 1st May 2004, amendments to the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 come into force. These amendments require all employers (without exception) in the UK to make basic document checks on every person they intend to employ.

They also require that the employer makes a copy of original documents (from a prescribed set of Lists) belonging to the employee so that they can prove they have undertaken the relevant checks.

The changes will not make a major difference to the type of checks employers are already required to carry out to meet their responsibilities under the law. They have been drawn up so that people who do have the right to work in this country can prove this quickly and easily.

It’s important that people who use Direct Payments or ILF money for recruiting and employing P.A.'s are aware of these requirements and that failure to undertake the checks is a criminal offence (should the employee later be found to have no right to work in this country).

Lastly, the amended Act obliges employers to ensure that their recruitment practices don’t discriminate against individuals on racial grounds. Therefore it may be invalid to refuse a person employment just because they have not yet been issued with a National Insurance Number (more on this at a later date).

The requirements are explained in detail in the official Home Office document, ‘Changes to the law on preventing illegal working: short guidance for UK employers’. This can be viewed on the Home Office website : www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/employers.Their web site states that all PAYE registered employers will be sent this document after mid-April 2004. Further information will be made available via our quarterly Newsletter and possible a new Factsheet.