Right-to-work check redaction is the removal of identity data from a completed eligibility check. Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 s.15 exposes an employer to a civil penalty for employing a person with no right to work, and s.15(3) excuses that penalty where the employer met the prescribed requirements before the start date. anonym.plus marks names, document numbers, and birth dates on your own device, so the proof of the check survives while the identity data goes.
When this applies
The Home Office raised the s.15 penalty on 13 February 2024 to up to £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach, and £60,000 for a repeat one. Your completed check is the evidence that answers it, yet the same page pairs a name with a passport number and a date of birth. A manager or a shared drive needs the outcome, not that detail.
How anonym.plus handles it
- Open the completed check in anonym.plus on your workstation.
- Local OCR reads any scanned page attached to it.
- The tool flags names, document numbers, and birth dates.
- Confirm each flag and clear any field caught by mistake.
- Replace each item with a label, or black it out.
- Save the clean copy. The source never leaves your machine.
What you need to provide
- The completed check (PDF, DOCX, or scan).
- An operator: Replace (swap), Redact (black out), or Mask (partial).
- Optional: an alias map if you must re-link a worker later.
PII entity types detected
| Category | anonym.plus entity type | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Names | PERSON | Eleanor Whitfield → [WORKER] |
| Identifiers | UK_PASSPORT | passport 503827461 → [PASSPORT] |
| Identifiers | UK_NINO | QQ 12 34 56 C → [NINO] |
| Dates | DATE_TIME | DOB 12/04/1990 → [DOB] |
| Location | LOCATION | 12 Pine Road, Leeds → [ADDRESS] |
Compliance achieved
- Protects the statutory excuse in Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 s.15(3), which an employer keeps only by checking before the start date.
- Guards the evidence that answers a s.15 civil penalty, set since 13 February 2024 at up to £45,000 per illegal worker.
- Supports the same check for every recruit, as the Home Office code of practice on avoiding unlawful discrimination while preventing illegal working asks.
- Cuts the race-discrimination risk that Equality Act 2010 s.13 catches when only some candidates are asked for papers.
- Working copies are kept safe with AES-256-GCM at rest.
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Limitations & cautions
The excuse depends on holding a clear, dated copy of the original document, so redact a shared copy and never your retained evidence. The tool flags named items. It cannot judge what a Home Office audit will ask you to produce.
Frequently asked questions
Can I redact a stored right-to-work check?
Keep the original. The s.15(3) excuse rests on a clear, dated copy held for the whole of the employment and two years after it ends, so redact the copy you circulate rather than the record you retain.
Does redaction affect the civil penalty risk?
No. The penalty turns on whether the prescribed check happened before the start date, not on what a shared copy shows. Redaction limits who sees a passport number once the check is already on file.
Will the page still read correctly after the swap?
Yes. The Replace operator drops a steady label in place of each item, so the layout still makes sense and no longer names a real person.