Taxi & PH illegal working guidance updated

The Home Office has published updated guidance for licensing authorities to prevent illegal working in the taxi and private hire sector.

This guidance is issued for use by licensing authorities handling applications for taxi operator, taxi sector, private hire car (PHC), private hire vehicle (PHV) or booking office driver licences (referred to in this guidance as taxi and private hire sector / licences) in the UK and sets out:

• what licensing authorities need to know about their legal duty not to issue a licence to a person who is disqualified from holding one due to their UK immigration status
• how licensing authorities should discharge this duty by conducting immigration checks
• whom a licensing authority needs to conduct checks on, when, and how to conduct checks correctly

The most significant updates contained in this guidance relate to:

• a revision of terminology; ‘Digital Verification Service (DVS) now encapsulates the terms Identity Service Providers (IDSPs) and Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT). This aligns the guidance with the terminology used in the UK digital identity attributes framework and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. Guidance and requirements specifically for DVS are now available in the supplementary code for digital right to work checks.

• further clarification that expired, physical Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) are not acceptable proof of right to work for the purposes of right to a licence checks. This includes updates relating to eVisas; advising individuals who may be issued with a short-validity vignette to travel to the UK, that they must create a UKVI account and get access to their eVisa, even before travelling.

• the removal of the section referring to COVID-19 temporary adjusted checks.

• additional information about Skilled Workers and recent changes to the immigration rules.

• non-EEA citizen family members and EUSS family permits.