Home Office updates right to work guidance for taxi and private hire vehicle licensing authorities
- Perry Richardson
- Aug 12
- 2 min read
The Home Office has updated its guidance for licensing authorities on how to carry out right to work checks when issuing taxi and private hire licences across the UK. The refreshed document was published on 6 August 2025 and applies to England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The update clarifies how authorities must discharge their duty not to issue licences to applicants disqualified by immigration status. Checks are required at every new grant, renewal or extension. They are not retrospective for licences issued or applications sent before 1 December 2016. Where permission to be in the UK ends, a licence lapses automatically and must be returned, with failure to do so a criminal offence punishable by a fine.
Authorities can complete checks in three ways. A manual document check is available to all applicants. A Digital Verification Service can be used for British and Irish passport holders. The Home Office online service is used for non-British and non-Irish citizens via a share code.
The guidance confirms that expired physical Biometric Residence Permits are not acceptable as proof for these checks and advises applicants to create a UKVI account and access their eVisa.
There is a change on repeat checking for those with EU Settlement Scheme status. Licensing authorities are no longer required to repeat checks for holders of pre-settled or settled status, provided a copy of the original online check is retained. For other time-limited permissions, the duration of any licence must not exceed the permission period and the check should be repeated at the next renewal or extension.
The terminology in the guidance now uses Digital Verification Service in place of Identity Service Providers and IDVT, aligning with the UK digital identity framework and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.
The document also notes it will become mandatory in the near future to use a DVS listed on the government register of certified providers for digital checks, and points to the supplementary code setting the rules that DVS must meet.
Record-keeping requirements are restated. Authorities must keep clear copies that cannot be manually altered and must retain evidence of the date each check was carried out. For online checks, the profile page with the applicant’s photo and the date of the check should be saved or printed. If a share code has expired, a new code must be requested and the check completed via the Home Office service, not from the applicant’s screenshot.
The guidance also links to the Home Office employer guide for the full list of acceptable documents, which authorities should use when conducting manual checks.
