For businesses that rely on freelance and contract hires, a significant change to the UK’s right to work (RTW) regime is almost upon us.
From 1 October 2026, the obligation to carry out RTW checks will extend well beyond the traditional employer-employee relationship. For industries built on flexible, project-based engagement models, the implications could be substantial.
Under current rules, RTW checks are required only where someone is engaged under a contract of employment or apprenticeship. Because many cast, crew, and talent working in the entertainment industry are engaged on a freelance / self-employed contractor basis (whether directly or via personal service / loan out companies), there is no strict legal obligation to check their right to work in the UK.
That said, it has long been advisable to carry out checks for such individuals regardless. Employment and immigration classifications do not always neatly align, and the consequences of getting it wrong – particularly given ongoing scrutiny around misclassification – can be severe.
What’s changing
Section 48 of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 (Act) makes two key changes.
First, the scope of who qualifies as an “employer” and “worker” for RTW purposes is expanding significantly. Under the new rules, the obligation to conduct RTW checks will reach well beyond traditional employment relationships, capturing a far broader range of working arrangements. The new requirements will cover:
- Workers’ contracts – capturing many individuals including agency workers, zero-hours workers, and casual staff who were previously outside the regime;
- Self-employed contractors – a category that encompasses much of the freelance talent base across film and TV; and
- Certain types of online platforms – including some of the freelancer platforms increasingly used by productions and studios to source crew and talent.
This means businesses will realistically need to carry out extended RTW checks on the individuals they engage regardless of the method of engagement. There is an exception where someone is genuinely running an independent business and contracting directly with clients, but this is a nuanced area (particularly when considering engagements in the entertainment industry) and should not be assumed without careful analysis. Productions should not assume that simply contracting talent and crew through a loan-out company will take them outside the new regime. For platforms, current guidance indicates that RTW obligations will need to be run where the platform’s role involves providing the actual labour – i.e. supplying workers to perform work – rather than simply procuring services or offering technology that matches workers with job opportunities (though definitive guidance on these points is pending).
Second, the Act introduces a concept of extended liability that reaches deep into supply chains. Where a business subcontracts work to another party, it may find itself deemed the “employer” of individuals who actually perform the services – even without any direct contractual relationship. The broader ’employer’ definition has a ripple effect: it extends to arrangements involving ‘another employer’ in the supply chain, meaning more subcontracting structures will now be caught by these requirements. In practice, a production company that engages talent and crew through contractors, loan-out companies, or other intermediaries could face civil penalties as if it were the direct employer, unless it can demonstrate that proper RTW steps have been taken. Responsibility, in other words, can travel up the contractual chain – so a production may be held accountable even where the loan-out company failed to conduct the necessary checks.
What you should be doing now
Compliance extends beyond new contractual arrangements post October 2026, and will include existing agreements already in place as of that date. Early action is advisable as embedding the processes necessary to establish a statutory excuse requires time, and organisations that move proactively will be better positioned to demonstrate the genuine, operational compliance the Home Office expects. We recommend the following steps:
- Strengthen supplier contracts. Require contractors and suppliers to carry out RTW checks on their personnel; provide evidence of compliance; permit audits; accept commercial consequences for non-compliance; refrain from subcontracting without written consent; and cooperate with any Home Office investigation.
- Request documentary evidence. Ask suppliers to confirm the type of check carried out, the date it was conducted, and – where possible – provide redacted copies of the underlying records.
- Conduct spot checks. Periodically review RTW records for a sample of workers supplied to your productions. Contractual terms alone will not suffice; you must be able to demonstrate that proper arrangements are in place and functioning.
- Maintain thorough records. Keep a clear audit trail of the steps taken, the evidence received, and any follow-up actions.
- Verify identity. Confirm that the person actually performing the work is the same individual whose RTW was checked.
- Control substitution. Where contracts allow a substitute to be sent in place of the named individual, check the substitute’s RTW before they begin work.
These changes will affect the day-to-day operations of production companies, studios, rights holders, and platform operators across the digital entertainment landscape. Getting ahead of them now will save considerable difficulty later on.
If you would like tailored advice on how the new RTW requirements apply to your business, or help reviewing your existing engagement and compliance frameworks, please do get in touch with our team.