Right-to-Work Checks and £3.4bn Safety Levy Hit UK Construction

Construction firms across the UK must start running right-to-work checks on self-employed workers from today, as a package of new rules targeting illegal migrant labour and rogue employers comes into force.

Contractors hiring individual workers now have to confirm they are legally entitled to work in the UK. The change brings self-employed and non-standard labour in line with checks that, until now, have largely applied only to people classed as employees.

The new extended liability provisions reach down the supply chain. Main contractors could face penalties where illegal workers are found at lower tiers of a contracting chain and the required contractual safeguards have not been put in place.

That liability is expected to force contractors to tighten subcontract conditions, labour onboarding procedures and checks on who is actually turning up on site.

Firms will need clear records showing who carried out the right-to-work check, when it was completed and that the person arriving for work is the individual who was cleared. Home Office guidance points to site passes, attendance systems, biometrics and regular identity checks as possible controls.

The penalties are severe. Businesses employing illegal workers without the required protection face civil penalties of up to £60,000 per worker. Serious cases can also lead to business closures, director bans, unlimited fines and prison sentences of up to five years.

Building safety levy takes effect

A new building safety levy also comes into force across England today, adding cost to major housing and student accommodation schemes.

Developers submitting building control applications from 1 October will be liable for the charge on schemes of 10 or more homes and purpose-built student accommodation developments of 30 or more bedspaces.

The Government expects the levy to raise around £3.4bn over roughly 10 years to help fund the remediation of unsafe residential buildings.

Charges are calculated on a £/sq m basis, with rates varying between local authority areas to reflect property and land values. Brownfield developments receive a 50% discount.

The cost gap between regions is wide. A 10,000 sq m residential development would attract a levy of around £284,000 in Manchester, £292,000 in Birmingham and £612,000 in London's Tower Hamlets.

Affordable housing and a range of community and specialist accommodation are exempt, while developments below the 10-home or 30-bed threshold escape the charge.

The levy applies only to building control applications submitted from today. Schemes already in the system before 1 October are protected from the new charge, giving developers with pipeline projects a limited window of relief — and everyone else a new line item to price into major residential schemes from now on.