Work-rights processes differ between countries. A shared recruitment system can organise the records and outstanding tasks, while your agency follows the applicable process for the worker and employment arrangement.

This article covers the operational side of that work: who owns the check, where it sits in the placement flow, how evidence and dates are recorded, and how you audit your own process. It does not set out the legal requirements in any country. Take those from the official guidance linked in each section below, and from a qualified adviser where a case is not straightforward.

Why process design matters in healthcare staffing

Healthcare agencies place people quickly and often. A ward may need an agency nurse for a shift that starts in a few hours, a locum doctor may work across several hospitals in a month, and internationally recruited staff may hold permissions that need following up during their time with the agency. Each of these puts pressure on a process that may have been designed for a slower pace.

Problems tend to appear at the edges of the process rather than in the middle of it:

a short-notice booking made out of hours, when the usual reviewer is not available
a dormant candidate reactivated on the strength of an old record
a follow-up date kept in one person's calendar and missed when they leave
a single "compliant" status that hides which check is actually outstanding

Good process design anticipates these situations instead of relying on individuals to catch them.

United Kingdom

Employers must check a job applicant's right to work before employing them. The appropriate route can involve the online service, original documents or an eligible identity service provider. Follow the current employer guidance for the person's circumstances. GOV.UK right-to-work guidance.

For your own process, the practical questions are who carries out the check, how they identify the route the guidance points to for the person in front of them, and how the outcome is recorded so a colleague can see it without repeating the work. Keep a note of when your internal procedure was last compared with the current guidance.

Australia

Visa Entitlement Verification Online, or VEVO, is the official service for checking visa details and conditions. Review the work conditions relevant to the proposed engagement using current Home Affairs guidance. Home Affairs VEVO guidance.

Operationally, decide who performs the check, how the result is recorded against the candidate and how anything relevant to future bookings is made visible to the consultants who arrange them. If the check identifies a date your team should revisit, record it as a follow-up date with an owner, rather than leaving it in the notes.

United States

Use the current USCIS Form I-9 process for employment eligibility verification and confirm the requirements for the employment arrangement. Keep the US workflow separate from UK and Australian document assumptions. USCIS Form I-9.

This section is included for general comparison only. If your agency is considering work in the US, take specialist advice before designing records or workflows for it, and do not assume that a UK or Australian checklist can be adapted.

Decide who owns the check

A work-rights check needs a clear owner. In many agencies that is the compliance team, with consultants responsible for collecting the information and arranging bookings once the check is recorded. In smaller agencies one person may do both, which makes it more important to write down what the check involves and how it is recorded.

Agree the following in advance:

which roles can carry out and record the check
who covers evenings, weekends and leave, when short-notice bookings are most likely
who decides on cases that are unclear, and where that decision is recorded
how new staff are trained on the process, and how often that training is refreshed

Avoid a model where whoever happens to pick up the candidate does the check. It produces inconsistent records and makes it hard to know who to ask when a question comes up later.

Place the check in the placement flow

Use the official guidance to decide when the check needs to be complete, then make sure your workflow reflects that point clearly. In a healthcare agency, the moments that usually need a defined step are:

Registration, when the candidate first joins the agency.
First booking, when the candidate is about to start work.
Reactivation, when a candidate returns after a period without work.
A change of circumstances, such as a new visa, a new passport or a change of name.
An approaching follow-up date on a time-limited permission.

For each moment, write down what triggers the step, who is told and what needs to be recorded before the consultant goes ahead. A consultant should be able to see on the candidate's record whether the work-rights step is complete for the booking they are making, without opening a separate spreadsheet.

Keep the operational record clear

Record the evidence, review responsibility, check date and any follow-up action required under the applicable process. Distinguish work-rights evidence from professional registration, background checks and additional client requirements.

What to record

the evidence or check result your process relies on, stored against the candidate rather than in an inbox
the person who carried out the check, and the date they did it
the outcome, in a consistent format the team has agreed
any follow-up date, and the person responsible for acting on it
anything the next reviewer needs to know, written so a colleague can understand it

Check dates and follow-up dates

Treat the date a check was carried out and the date it needs to be revisited as two separate fields. The first records what happened. The second drives future work. Recording only one, or mixing them in a free-text note, makes it hard to tell whether a record is complete or simply old.

Track expiring permissions

Where a follow-up date applies, set reminders with enough lead time to collect and review new evidence before the date arrives. Consider your booking horizon as well: a nurse booked on a twelve-week block needs the follow-up planned around the block, not discovered in the middle of it. In RecSphere, automated reminders can prompt the team about approaching renewals once the agency has configured its reminder rules, while the review and approval of the new evidence stays with the responsible person.

Keep it separate from registration and police checks

Work rights, professional registration and criminal record checks answer different questions, are often owned by different people and run on different renewal cycles. Recording them as separate items stops one from masking another. A locum doctor may hold current registration and a recent police check while a work permission is approaching its follow-up date, and a single combined status would hide that. Use the terms your region uses so the team is clear which is which: Right to Work and DBS in the UK, and work rights, VEVO and National Police Checks in Australia.

Audit your own process

A periodic internal review shows whether the process works as designed. It is not a substitute for advice, but it does show where records are incomplete or steps are being skipped. A simple approach:

Select a sample of recent placements across branches, consultants and clients, including some short-notice bookings.
For each, confirm the record shows who carried out the work-rights check, when, and the outcome.
Confirm the check was recorded at the point your procedure requires, for example before the first shift.
Where a follow-up date applies, confirm it was recorded, had an owner and was acted on in time.
Confirm the evidence can be retrieved from the record without asking a colleague.
Note any case where work rights and other checks were recorded as one item, and separate them.

Record what you found and what you changed. Alongside the sample, note when your procedure was last compared with the official guidance linked above, and who is responsible for watching for updates. Changes to official guidance are easy to miss when nobody owns that task.

Common mistakes to design out

Treating an upload as a completed check. A document arriving on the record is not the same as a reviewed and recorded check.
Copying one country's checklist into another. Each region should build its process from its own official guidance.
Relying on personal reminders. Follow-up dates belong on the shared record, where cover staff can see them.
Reusing an old check without review. Decide when a returning candidate's record needs looking at again, and apply that rule consistently.