EXTENDED LIABILITY ASSESSMENT
Extended Liability Assessment
Assess how your current subcontractor controls align with the key extended-liability requirements.
UNDERSTAND THE ARRANGEMENT
What extended liability means
Extended Right to Work liability can create separate responsibilities for an upstream party in a relevant contractual chain or substitution arrangement. It does not transfer the direct employer’s responsibility for prescribed Right to Work checks.
An upstream organisation may need written contractual, subcontracting, audit, enforcement and identity controls, together with evidence that those controls operate in practice. Purchasing services for your own use is different from engaging others to deliver work you owe to a third party.
Read what changed in October 2026 →CONTRACTUAL CHAINS AND SUBSTITUTION
When extended liability may apply
You have accepted responsibility for delivering work or services to another party, and other businesses or individuals perform all or part of that work. A relevant arrangement permitting an individual to provide a substitute may also need review.
For arrangements entered into on or after 1 October 2026, assess each relevant contractual relationship separately. Further subcontracting is a control and evidence consideration; it is not, by itself, a legal trigger. Subcontractor Right to Work checks remain the direct employer’s responsibility.
How CrewDiligence supports Right to Work subcontractor controls →When it appears less likely
Your organisation purchases finished goods or services for its own use, rather than engaging providers to fulfil work or services owed to a third party, and no relevant substitution arrangement has been identified. This does not remove the direct employer’s Right to Work duties.
An arrangement entered into before 1 October 2026 is not brought into scope solely because work continues after that date. Any renewal, replacement, new downstream contract or material change should be reviewed separately.
If the direct employer is unclear, answers conflict, or actual working practices differ from the contract, the arrangement requires review. This educational check does not replace the authoritative project-specific assessment in the Crew Diligence portal, which retains the reviewer, rationale, evidence and audit history.
ILLUSTRATIVE CONSTRUCTION EXAMPLE
An office fit-out, more than one relationship
A design-and-build contractor is engaged to deliver an office fit-out and appoints electrical, drywall, HVAC and AV subcontractors. The contractor is delivering work to its client through a contractual chain, so extended liability may apply. If the electrical contractor then subcontracts data cabling, that lower-tier relationship should be assessed separately.
The end client purchasing a fit-out for its own occupation may be outside extended liability, while the contractor delivering and subcontracting the works may be within scope. This example is illustrative; the outcome depends on the contracts and facts.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
What is the Extended Liability Assessment?
A practical starting point for reviewing a contractual relationship and the controls supporting it. The result is indicative, not a legal determination.
Who is it for?
Main contractors, project teams and organisations delivering work through subcontractors, labour providers or relevant substitution arrangements.
What does the assessment cover?
The contractual chain, substitution and contract timing, followed by written controls, including a separate statement of the five prescribed terms for relevant contract-chain or online matching arrangements, and separate prescribed controls for substitution-only arrangements, plus identity assurance and evidence. Assess one arrangement at a time.
What happens after the assessment?
You receive an ungated indicative result and a summary of the control areas you flagged. You can book a readiness review, explore CrewDiligence or use the detailed checklist.
Does this mean every subcontractor arrangement is caught?
No. The result depends on the contractual structure and how the arrangement operates in practice. Purchasing services for an organisation’s own use or purchasing finished goods may fall outside extended liability.
Who carries out the Right to Work check?
The employer with the direct contractual relationship with the worker remains responsible for the prescribed check. Extended liability creates separate potential responsibilities for another party in a relevant contractual chain.
Does an upstream contractor need to repeat every check?
Not necessarily. It may rely on appropriate assurance and identity-verification arrangements where it has taken reasonable steps to establish that the controls are effective.
What if further subcontracting is not allowed?
Record that position and test whether practice matches the contract. An unauthorised subcontract or substitution must enter a controlled exception process.
Does it replace a Right to Work check or legal advice?
No. The assessment does not replace the direct employer’s prescribed Right to Work check or legal advice. It provides an indicative review of contractual controls, subcontracting, substitutions, identity verification and evidence; it does not establish a statutory excuse.
A CLEARER STARTING POINT
Review the arrangement and the evidence.
Talk to CrewDiligence about your contractual chain, the controls required and how to maintain a structured evidence trail.
This tool provides general information only. It does not provide legal advice, determine liability, establish a statutory excuse or replace an employer’s prescribed Right to Work check.
Based on the final Home Office employer’s guide published on 1 October 2026.