Rules · UK-EMP-023
Taking over a business: fresh right to work checks within 60 days
If staff move to you under TUPE when you buy or take over a business, the Home Office advises a fresh right to work check on each of them within 60 calendar days of the transfer. There is no grace period for later follow-up checks. Someone engaged as a worker under a contract for services is not covered by TUPE and must be checked before they start working for you.
a 60 calendar-day grace period is provided … during which the acquiring employer should conduct a fresh check. There is no grace period for any subsequent follow-up checks.
- Rule ID
- UK-EMP-023
- Title
- Taking over a business: fresh right to work checks within 60 days
- Description
- If staff move to you under TUPE when you buy or take over a business, the Home Office advises a fresh right to work check on each of them within 60 calendar days of the transfer. There is no grace period for later follow-up checks. Someone engaged as a worker under a contract for services is not covered by TUPE and must be checked before they start working for you.
- Value
- Fresh check within 60 calendar days of the transfer; no grace period for follow-up checks
- Applies to
- Employers buying or taking over a business that has staff.
- Jurisdiction
- United Kingdom
- Effective date
- Not yet confirmed
- Last verified
- Not yet confirmed
- Version
- draft
- Source
- GOV.UK
- Source retrieved
- 12 October 2026
- Related rules
- Category
- Compliance
- Status
- Draft
- Note
- The only official text is the Employer’s guide of 1 October 2026 (PDF, p.58) and the code of practice (PDF, p.36), which the source check cannot read, so the quote cannot be matched automatically. Read the wording against the PDF by hand before this is published as verified, or find an HTML source. It is also not established whether the 60-day window is new in the 2026 guide or restated.