Private hire operators face legal duty to carry out driver right to work checks from October

Private hire operators will face a clearer legal responsibility to prevent illegal working when changes to the Government’s Right to Work Scheme take effect on 1 October 2026.

The Home Office confirmed the position in response to a question from Shivani Raja, Conservative MP for Leicester East. Raja asked the department to explain the evidential basis for requiring private hire operators to conduct right to work checks on drivers.

Jo White, Home Office Minister, said the changes would apply to organisations engaging people to provide work or services under their company name, including operators in the taxi and private hire vehicle sector.

White said: “Historically, these labour market models have presented challenges for enforcement because accountability for compliance of the legal requirement to prevent illegal working has not been clearly defined and instance of illegal working have been identified.”

The Government’s position is that existing licensing checks have not, on their own, established sufficiently clear responsibility when illegal working is discovered. This has been identified as a particular concern where drivers provide services through an intermediary or platform-based business model.

White said: “While local authority licensing checks form an important part of the existing system, reliance on these checks alone has created ambiguity as to where accountability rests if illegal working is identified, particularly where services are provided through intermediary or platform-based models.”

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She added: “The approach being taken provides clarity and consistency, ensuring that responsibility sits with the organisation engaging the individual to provide work or services.”

The response did not provide figures showing the number of illegal-working cases involving taxi or private hire drivers. Instead, the Home Office referred to assessments published during and following the passage of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025, alongside its consultation response and wider enforcement data.

The publications cited include impact assessments for the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill and Act 2025, the Government’s response on extending the Right to Work Scheme, and information covering returns from the UK and enforcement activity.

The change means operators will need to ensure their driver onboarding and compliance procedures meet the expanded statutory requirements from 1 October. It also places operator checks alongside, rather than in place of, the right to work controls already applied through local authority licensing.

The Home Office said it would continue monitoring the effect of the measures and publish further assessments and data on illegal working and enforcement activity.