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A rising share of the UK workforce
Freelancers, contractors, zero-hours staff and other non-permanent workers now make up a significant share of the UK labour market. Nearly 20 per cent of the workforce is classified as contingent, including around 4.38 million self-employed individuals and 1.4 million temporary or contract workers.
This shift reflects how organisations now operate. Flexible labour supports project delivery, seasonal peaks, specialist skills and cost efficiency. Contingent work is no longer peripheral. It is mainstream.
For employers, that presents an important question.How do you maintain consistent compliance and risk standards across your entire workforce when a substantial proportion is not permanently employed?
The risks remain regardless of contract type
Many contingent workers have the same access and responsibilities as permanent employees. They may handle sensitive data, work in regulated environments, engage with clients or enter secure sites. Contract type does not reduce the potential risk.
If screening for contingent labour is inconsistent or delayed, organisations face exposure in areas such as:
- Conduct or behaviour concerns
- Safeguarding issues
- Data protection or confidentiality breaches
- Reputational damage
- Operational disruption
As organisations scale their use of flexible labour, even occasional lapses can become systemic risks. What may seem negligible in small numbers becomes a major control gap when applied to hundreds or thousands of workers.
Consistency builds fairness, compliance and clarity
A unified screening standard across all worker types helps remove ambiguity. It supports:
- Fair treatment of all workers
- Defensible, transparent onboarding decisions
- A single internal policy that is easy to communicate and uphold
- Stronger governance and audit trails
Screening should not be influenced by the contract through which someone enters the organisation. It should be influenced by the risk of the role.
What proper screening should include
A robust, scalable approach to contingent-workforce screening typically covers:
- Right to work checks
Confirmed before engagement begins, regardless of role type.
- Criminal-record or background checks
Applied where work involves vulnerable groups, regulated duties, secure facilities or sensitive information.
- Verification of qualifications or licences
Important for technical, regulated or safety-critical roles.
- Reference or employment-history checks
Useful where reliability, behaviour and past performance are relevant.
This baseline supports a consistent and defensible approach whether the worker is permanent, freelance, agency-supplied or providing services under a contract for services.
Right to work: clarity on responsibilities
Right-to-work obligations often cause uncertainty when contractors or agency workers are involved. Current Home Office guidance is clear.
- For anyone directly employed by you, you must complete the right-to-work check and keep compliant records.
- For workers supplied by an agency or contractor, the agency or contractor is the legal employer and is responsible for conducting the check.
- However, the organisation using the labour must show appropriate oversight.
That means asking suppliers to demonstrate they have completed compliant right-to-work checks and operate reliable processes. The legal penalty sits with the direct employer, but reputational and operational consequences can affect the organisation receiving the labour.
A simple expectation applies:
Know who is checking, how they are checking, and whether the evidence is reliable.
Why screening contingent workers is essential
Some organisations still assume contingent workers carry less risk because they are temporary or sourced through a third party. Evidence and experience show this is rarely true.
- Legal duties still apply to anyone you employ directly.
- Access, security, data exposure and customer interaction risks remain the same across contract types.
- Workforce complexity increases when permanent and contingent labour operate side by side.
- Regulators expect organisations to demonstrate due diligence across all individuals performing sensitive, regulated or high-risk duties.
Screening contingent workers is not a barrier to flexibility. It is a way to protect business continuity and maintain trust.
Why this matters now
Contingent labour has become a core part of workforce strategy across the UK. As permanent and temporary work increasingly overlap, organisations face broader exposure to compliance, security and operational risks.
Screening all workers consistently is not gatekeeping. It is responsible workforce management. It protects operations, supports compliance and reinforces the organisation’s reputation with customers, regulators and employees.
At Giant Screening, we believe that applying the same standard to everyone who represents your organisation is not optional.
It is the foundation of modern workforce assurance.
If you would like to review or build a contingent-workforce screening policy or benchmark your current approach against best practice, our team is ready to help.
