Right to Work
 

I've just received an email at work asking me to provide:

• A passport showing you are a British or a national EEA citizen or a citizen of the UK and Colonies have the right of abode in the UK
• A birth or adoption certificate (short or long) issued in the UK and in the Channel Islands, together with an official document showing permanent National Insurance number
• A National Identity Card showing you are a national of a European Economic Area country or Switzerland
• A Registration Certificate or document certifying Permanent Residence
• A certificate of registration or naturalisation as a British citizen, together with an official document giving your permanent National Insurance details

I've worked here (UK company) over ten years, I've paid tax by means of PAYE all my life, I find this all a bit bizarre. I understand it for new employees, but not existing ones. Is this happening all over, or is someone in HR taking things a bit too far?

Hostile Environment

may well be they are just sorting out all the paperwork for all employees so to be fair to all.

Sounds a bit OTT to me. As a PAYE employee I'd expect them to have my NI number already, so beyond that, I can't see why they'd want any more than a valid passport.

Birth certificate is just taking the mickey, for sure.

Edit:
If the company are asking for just one of the listed items, then I'd agree it's perfectly normal. If on the other hand they're asking for all the items on the list, they've totally lost the plot.

Just ignore it and wait to see what happens

(I've not heard of this being 'general')

Every employer is required to hold evidence that their employees have a right to work.

At the moment, that is proof of British or EU citizenship
Or proof of work permit for non British and non EU citizens.

Post Brexit, the EU citizens will fall into the general non British class.

Probably just your company getting its books up to date.

Companies can be fined for employing people who are not permitted to work, so they need to be able to show they evidence to prove they have made the required checks. They cannot be held liable if the documents they were provided with are false/forged, so as long as they have all the paperwork, then the company is clear in the event of any illegals that have provided false data.

These rules are not new, they've been around for a while since immigration became a hot topic - as dpb says, hostile environment.

My guess is your company has read the regulations as part of their Brexit planning and realised they are missing the required evidence. As a British national, a copy of your birth certificate or passport should be sufficient.

Could be lots of reasons -

Validate the legitmacy of the email before sending any of the detail - just in case it is a phishing attempt - it is not usual to revalidate your right to work

but a couple of exceptions spring to mind

Company being targeted for acquisition? could be part of due diligence in acquisitions and mergers process?
Could be business process change, or errors and omissions found in a previous process?
Company may have been tripped up, and has given an undertaking to retrospectively complete this
Is it a regulated industry? or your company has just become regulated? that may be another explanation for getting the house in order

your slave number ie ni number is your permission to work in the uk proof of id is birth certificate thats all they should need

Not true! As an immigrant, you may have a work visa so you can obtain a NI number. Your visa may then expire, but you won't lose your NI number.

Your NI number only shows you have been rigistered to pay income tax, it says nothing about your right to work!

This happened at my work a year or so ago, as someone else said its probably the company just updating there paperwork as its a requirement, just a passport is fine you dont need everything you listed.

We have all just been asked to confirm our nationality and citizenship at the company I work for here in Germany aswell. It is something to do with Brexit according to the email in our case.

When I fixed printers and copiers I would have to go through various history checks.

one company that makes guidance systems for war heads wanted to know my dads job, salary where he’s lived for 10yrs.
the details they wanted were unreal and this was for me to go to the non classified open areas!

in the end - as I didn’t speak to my dad - I said someone else could fix the machines there.

I had this when starting a self employment contract last year. All of the same docs, plus utility bills and all the rest of it.. Headache.