Right to work checks for taxi and private hire driver licences

The Immigration Act 2016 amended section 51 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 from 1 December 2016. A council must now be satisfied that your immigration status does not disqualify you from driving a private hire vehicle. It must have regard to Home Office guidance when deciding this. The check is in addition to the fit and proper test, not a replacement for it.

The Home Office guidance says you are disqualified if you need permission to enter or stay in the UK and do not have it. You are also disqualified if your permission is invalid, has ended, or has a condition that stops you doing this kind of work.

Sources: Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, section 51 (Licensing of drivers of private hire vehicles) (opens in a new tab) (legislation.gov.uk, Section 51(1)(a)(ii) and (1ZA))[1]; Taxi and private hire vehicle licensing: best practice guidance for licensing authorities in England (opens in a new tab) (Department for Transport, 6.7 Immigration checks)[2]; Guidance for licensing authorities to prevent illegal working in the taxi and private hire sector in the UK (opens in a new tab) (Home Office, 1. Introduction: Who is disqualified from holding a licence?)[3]

The council must ask every applicant to show their right to hold the licence, and must give you a reasonable opportunity to do so. It cannot insist on one particular method. The Home Office guidance describes three types of check:

• a manual check of your original documents from the Home Office's lists of acceptable documents
• a Home Office online check using a share code you generate
• a check through a registered Right to Work digital verification service provider

Source: Guidance for licensing authorities to prevent illegal working in the taxi and private hire sector in the UK (opens in a new tab) (Home Office, 2. Right to a licence check: Types of right to a licence check)[3]

If you have an eVisa, the council must use the Home Office online service. You generate a share code through the GOV.UK service 'Prove your right to work to an employer: get a share code'. The code has 9 characters and starts with the letter 'W'. Codes starting with 'R' or 'S' are for other purposes and cannot be accepted.

A share code is valid for 90 calendar days and can be used as many times as needed in that period, but only for the purpose it was created for. If it has expired, the council will ask you for a new one.

Source: Guidance for licensing authorities to prevent illegal working in the taxi and private hire sector in the UK (opens in a new tab) (Home Office, 2. Conducting a Home Office online right to a licence check)[3]

If the check shows a continuous right to work with no restriction on this work, the council can issue the licence for the normal maximum period. For a driver that is three years. If your permission is time-limited, the licence must not run beyond the date your permission expires or the normal maximum, whichever is earlier.

If you have an outstanding application, appeal or administrative review and the Home Office confirms your status, any licence issued must be limited to a maximum of six months. A document or reference number showing that you have applied does not, on its own, prove your right to hold a licence.

Sources: Guidance for licensing authorities to prevent illegal working in the taxi and private hire sector in the UK (opens in a new tab) (Home Office, 4. Duration of licences; Outstanding applications, appeals and administrative reviews)[3]; Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, section 53 (Drivers' licences for hackney carriages and private hire vehicles) (opens in a new tab) (legislation.gov.uk, Section 53(1)(a))[4]

The guidance says the council must check not only that you can work in the UK, but that no condition of your permission prevents taxi or private hire work. It gives these examples:

• Skilled workers may only do limited supplementary work, and driving a taxi or private hire vehicle will not normally meet those conditions.
• Students are not allowed to be self-employed, except in a narrow case linked to an Innovator Founder application.
• Asylum seekers do not usually have permission to work. Councils must not issue a licence based on an Application Registration Card that only allows work in a shortage occupation or a job on the Immigration Salary List.
• People recognised as refugees have no restriction on their right to work and may be granted a licence while they hold that permission.

Source: Guidance for licensing authorities to prevent illegal working in the taxi and private hire sector in the UK (opens in a new tab) (Home Office, 5. Eligibility to hold a licence)[3]