High Turnover. New Staff Weekly. Who’s Checking?
hospitality businesses in the UK
sector for right-to-work enforcement actions
to verify with Certifyd
The reality of hospitality businesses in the UK.
Identity verification for hospitality businesses addresses an industry where speed of hiring often outpaces rigour of checking. Certifyd’s Organisation management lets hospitality businesses register each employee as a member with their identity cryptographically bound to their device. For agency and casual staff, bi-directional authentication verifies identity and right-to-work status in real time at the start of every shift. Every verification creates a tamper-proof audit record — essential for an industry consistently targeted by Home Office enforcement.
Hospitality is the UK’s largest private-sector employer with 3.5 million workers across 180,000 businesses. It is also consistently the number one sector for Home Office illegal working enforcement actions. The combination of high turnover, casual employment, and reliance on agency labour creates an environment where identity verification gaps are systemic, not occasional.
The operational reality is brutal. A hotel that needs 15 agency workers for a conference weekend receives a list of names from the agency. The workers arrive, put on uniforms, and start working. Nobody independently verified that the people who arrived are the people on the list. When HMRC or the Fair Work Agency walks in and asks for evidence, the hotel has a booking confirmation and a list of names — not proof of identity.
Certifyd transforms compliance from a paper exercise into a real-time system. Each worker’s identity is device-bound and verified at the start of every shift. The business gets tamper-proof records that link specific individuals to specific shifts — evidence that withstands regulatory scrutiny. For hospitality groups operating multiple venues, Certifyd provides a consistent verification standard across all sites.
This is broken.
Here's why.
Hospitality is the top sector for right-to-work enforcement — the industry’s staffing model creates structural compliance gaps.
Agency workers arrive at venues where nobody knows them, wearing borrowed uniforms.
High turnover means the person working today may not have been verified this month.
Paper-based records (photocopied passports, sign-in sheets) don’t withstand regulatory scrutiny.
Simple verification.
Every time.
Business registers as an Organisation on Certifyd; agency partners register separately
Each worker registers their device during onboarding, creating a device-bound identity
At every shift, the worker verifies through Certifyd — confirming identity, employer, and right-to-work status in real time
A tamper-proof record is created: who, when, where, and under whose organisational authority
Ready to see it in action?
Book a demo or tell us about your needs.
“Saturday night, full restaurant, two new agency staff I’ve never seen before walk in. They put on aprons and start working. I’ve got 200 covers to get through — I’m not stopping to check IDs.”— General Manager, restaurant group
Common questions.
Hospitality combines high staff turnover, widespread casual and agency employment, and rapid hiring cycles — all factors that create identity verification gaps. The Home Office and HMRC have consistently identified hospitality as a priority sector. Penalties of up to £60,000 per illegal worker, potential criminal prosecution, and sponsor licence revocation make non-compliance an existential risk for hospitality businesses.
Hospitality groups can manage all venues under a single Organisation on Certifyd, with site-specific roles and permissions. Workers who rotate between venues carry their device-bound identity with them — verification works the same way at any location. Management gets a centralised view of verification records across all sites, while each venue maintains its own shift-level audit trail.
Yes. Events often involve large numbers of casual workers arriving for a single day. Certifyd’s 30-second verification works at scale — multiple managers can verify workers simultaneously. Each verification creates an auditable record. For event companies that staff dozens of events monthly with rotating crews, Certifyd provides consistent identity verification regardless of venue or event.
The Fair Work Agency launches in April 2026, consolidating employment enforcement powers from HMRC, the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, and the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate. It will have enhanced powers to inspect any business and demand evidence of right-to-work compliance for every worker. Hospitality businesses that can provide tamper-proof, per-shift verification records will be far better positioned than those relying on filing cabinets of photocopied documents.
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Verify every hospitality worker before they start
Book a demo to see how Certifyd works for your team, or tell us about your verification needs and we'll get back to you within 24 hours.
Read: Fair Work Agency — What Changes