The Immigration (Restrictions on Employment and Residential Accommodation) (Prescribed Requirements and Codes of Practice) and Licensing Act 2003 (Personal and Premises Licences) (Forms) Order 2021

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order makes a number of changes to the documents which can be produced in order to evidence an individual’s right to work in the United Kingdom or enter into a tenancy agreement in England.

Articles 2 and 3 amend several of the Schedules to both the Licensing Act 2003 (Personal licences) Regulations 2005 (S.I. 2005/41) and the Licensing Act 2003 (Premises licences and club premises certificates) Regulations 2005 (S.I. 2005/42). The forms prescribed in those Schedules set out the detailed requirements relating to applications and notices given or made under Part 3 and Part 6 of the Licensing Act 2003 (c. 17). Articles 2 and 3 substitute new forms for those applications and notices, with updated references to documents to evidence an individual’s entitlement to work in the United Kingdom.

An employer is excused from paying a penalty under section 15 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 (c. 13) if the employee produces to the employer any of the documents described in the Schedule to the Immigration (Restrictions on Employment) Order 2007 (S.I. 2007/3290) (“the 2007 Order) and if the employer complies with the requirements prescribed under article 6 of that Order. Additionally, paragraph 5 of Schedule 6 to the Immigration Act 2016 (c. 19) empowers a court to make an illegal working compliance order to prevent an employer from employing an illegal worker. The Illegal Working Compliance Orders Regulations 2016 (S.I. 2016/1058) (“the 2016 Regulations”) prescribe the right to work checks which a court may require a person specified in an illegal working compliance order to carry out, and the documents which a court may require a person specified in an illegal working compliance order to produce to an immigration officer.

Articles 4 and 6 amend the 2007 Order and the 2016 Regulations to amend the list of documents which can give rise to a statutory excuse or which a court may require a person to produce to an immigration officer under the 2007 Order and the 2016 Regulations, respectively.

Chapter 1 of Part 3 of the Immigration Act 2014 (“the Act”) provides a statutory excuse for landlords and their agents from being required to pay a civil penalty if they conduct prescribed eligibility checks on prospective occupiers and those occupiers who are renewing their tenancy agreements. The Immigration (Residential Accommodation) Prescribed Requirements and Codes of Practice) Order 2014 (S.I. 2014/2874) (“the 2014 Order”) sets out the prescribed requirements for eligibility checks which must be complied with by landlords and agents when entering into a residential tenancy agreement.

Article 5 amends the 2014 Order to amend the list of documents which can give rise to a statutory excuse.

Article 7 provides for a revised code of practice to come into force on the same day as this Order comes into force, reflecting the changes made to the 2007 Order and the 2016 Regulations by this Order.

Article 8 provides for a revised code of practice to come into force on the same day as this Order comes into force, reflecting the changes made to the 2014 Order by this Order.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen.