It doesn’t matter what you are doing when it comes to compliance. It is not just about ‘lip service’ it’s about getting the process right.

The fines have now increased to £60,000 for employing illegal workers. You can’t as employers plead ignorance to a process that has been operational since 2008.

The question is, are you comfortable that you know what that process is?

Sadly, as recently reported, for one café Licensee, not keeping on top of the guidance changes could now result in their premises being closed in addition to fines being levied. The licence holder said that he

“Mistakenly believed a French passport to be sufficient as proof of right to work”

“Wrongly believed a National Insurance number to be sufficient to show a right to work”

This process risk is totally avoidable provided you follow the procedures as laid out in the Home Office guidance for Right to Work.

Ensure you follow the guidance to the letter and you will get a Statutory Excuse. This will prevent you getting fines for mistakes that you could not detect.

There is an alternative – use our regular training courses to stay on top the changes. In addition we have technology to ensure your recruiters do follow the steps required. If you see everyone face to face then uAuthenticate Mobile is for you. If you remotely recruit the use our Digital ID solution uIDentify.

You could combine this with our onboarding solution uOnboard which will enable a paperless onboarding experience for your new staff members.

Get in touch to find out how we can help you manage your entire recruitment process.

To read the article by Rory Bennet in Mylondon click here

The post The process matters appeared first on uComply.

The government have announced that the COVID19 temporary guidance ends on the 20th June. Physical checks of ID documents for Right to Work will need to start from the 20th June (changed from the 17th May) – are you ready?

How do you:

• Notify all your staff?
• Know the right combinations of documents have been captured?
• Ensure the documents presented are real?
• Your process remains GDPR Compliant?

However there are some options, offer further training, or alternatively, use our technology. Our solution uAuthenticate mobile:

• Is always up-to-date with the Right to Work Home Office guidance
• Through it’s wizard driven process, ensures your staff have captured the right combination of documents
• Uses your mobile phone to authenticate the documents and help you spot any fakes
• From a GDPR perspective, is secure and stores the documents in the cloud using the latest encryption technologies. Removes paper and stores all you information in a central cloud service.

Right to Work rule changes continue to be in the spotlight

With continual changes (the most recent example is between April and May the physical checks were required from 17th May; on the 12th May this has changed to the 21st June) it is essential to ensure you remain compliant with the employment landscape. It’s a long and winding road from the initial Brexit and the transition period especially when the Home Office guidance is being constantly updated and key milestones arrive.

Consequently, How do you manage to keep up?

From 1st July this year, there are different requirements when employing EU citizens. Specifically, EU citizens (aside from Irish citizens) must have a valid UK immigration status under the European Temporary Leave to Remain scheme, the EU Settlement scheme, or be sponsored through the new points-based immigration system.

Under the latest guidance if you employ an EU citizen who does not have appropriate immigration endorsement and who has not submitted a valid application under the EU Settlement scheme after 30 June 2021, they will be classed as an illegal immigrant.

There is a real risk that employers will face legal consequences for employing an illegal immigrant.

Forgive this hard hitting message about compliance.

For Right to Work, if your employee:

• Does not have permission to remain in the UK;
• Had permission to remain but it has expired;
• Is not allowed to do certain types of work; or
• Has incorrect or false papers;

….. you cloud be guilty of illegally employing an individual

The Home Office guidance indicates that company directors have a risk of personal liability if found to be employing illegal immigrants. The offense is a criminal one and comes into play if:

• you employ someone you know lacks the right to work in the UK,
• have reasonable cause to believe that to be the case,
• Suspect the worker is illegal.

Forget the £20,000 fine per illegal, as those found guilty of knowingly employing illegal workers can face unlimited fines and a jail term of up to five years.

In summary, changes to the new immigration system were announced before the UK left the EU in March 2019. Consequently, company directors are expected to know about the Home Office guidance for Right to Work. The Governments media have done their job well especially so in 2021.  Therefore, claiming ignorance would be an uphill struggle for any director to argue.

Technology and Right to Work represents a good answer

Fortunately, for Right to Work help is at hand with uAuthenticate

Contact us to find out more.

Alternatively, if you have a largely paper based process you could also take the opportunity to look at how simply we could help you create one digital flow for onboarding of staff through:

• Increasing efficiency
• Ensuring your staff follow your process
• Enhancing Security of data storage
• Eliminating paper

Finally, one for you to consider, uOnboard could be a great first step to digitsing your recruitment process and improving green credentials too.

The post Right to Work – Physical ID checks are needed from the 21st June appeared first on uComply.

Businesses of all sizes are facing a number of employment challenges when it comes to the onboarding of staff. From our research we found three challenges consistently came up as important:

Green credentials – Environmental impact is important to all. Gartner believes between 1 & 3% of a companies revenue can be spent on printing services. Each employee can utilise 8000 sheets PA and that’s one equivalent to one Tree!
Compliance – when employing workers we need to ensure that all onboarding steps have taken place. Examples include Health and Safety, training, GDPR compliance and information capture is accurate and consistent across the the recruitment process.
Cost & efficiency – Margins are tight you need to reduce cost, maximum controls and be able to demonstrate their full compliance to management at a glance

It may surprisingly to some of you that the Cleaning and FM sectors require very high levels of compliance. When you combine this with the need to present a low environmental footprint there is an impact on margins.

Our innovation the “Employment Challenge” speaks to all the above.

The removal of paper speaks directly to the green credentials of the environmental challenge.

However, most people forget about the peripherals in use with paper.

You get an instant reduction in printer and toner use together with less space for storage of the printing, going green looks cheaper.

Lastly, avoid the need for unnecessary travel and time when you ensure the process is right the first time.

The next Employment Challenge is compliance. You start with the right to work. Then you need to ensure training and health and safety with documentation for proof. Finally you can employ/pay your staff. Any breaks in this process result in risk to either the individual or the business and a reduction in efficiency.

The CSSA’s Deputy Chairman Sean caught up with the MD and Operations director after uComply’s innovation presentation which you can see below:

The actual Innovation showcase event was due to be on the 19th March sadly, COVID-19 has got in the way.We will let you know when it is rescheduled.

Finally, you don’t have to wait for the showcase why not contact us to find out how we look to satisfy the Employment challenge.

The post The Employment Challenge for Onboarding appeared first on uComply.

It is essential that every company manages its workforce. The onBoarding process begins with the legal requirement to check the Right to Work, but beyond this each company’s process can differ substantially. Essentially every company we’ve talked to has differences in their eligibility to work (ETW) processes. As a result each step requires the capture of information at the time of employment covering personal data, payroll, Health and Safety, training etc. before a worker is fully compliant.

Firstly, our research highlighted there are major pain-points for ETW around their onBoarding process which we have summarised below:

• Largely Paper based
• Inconsistent capture/processing of information
• Personal data may not be secure
• Ensuring compliance is not straightforward
• Margins are low, controlling cost is critical

Furthermore, ensuring workers compliance with changing regulations can cause you sleepless nights. Whether its Right to Work, GDPR, Health & Safety, Employment contracts, ETW the list seems endless. Getting your workers’ onboarding documentation right from the start is critical.

One thing is certain, we are all moving towards a digital world where physical storage of documents is gradually being consigned to the recycling bin.

Above all why not consider improving your green credentials with a digital onBoarding process and save trees by going paperless. Paper is everywhere. We hardly think about it, but businesses spend a lot of time and money moving paperwork around, filing it and ensuring its security.

uComply helps get rid of paper for to your Right to Work (uAuthenticate) and Onboarding processes.

In summary, digitizing your onBoarding documents

• Simplifies completion of your eligibility to work requirements
• Reduces paper use in your organisation
• Rationalizes storage and improves the ability to find documentation
• Gives you a cost effective management system

Finally, why not explore onboarding by going Paperless, helping Protect your business, Saving Time through efficiency. Most importantly do ensure all your employees have the statutory Right to Work and have completed the Right ETW for your organisation.

Even more if you’re considering your green credentials Get in contact with us today to find out how our tailor-made solution can help you.

The post Onboarding process made easy appeared first on uComply.