Right to work for casual workers

Casual workers are hired on an irregular basis for a short period of time, provided they have the right to work in the UK.

A Right to Work check must be undertaken before the casual work commences. Particular attention must be made to casual workers who hold a UK visa status to ensure the casual engagement is in line with any work. This is especially important for:

Student/Tier 4 visa holders who are permitted to work limited hours during their studies
Skilled Worker/Tier 2, and Tier 5 visa holders who are permitted to work no more than 20 hours per week in line with the supplementary employment conditions

On a monthly basis the Staff Immigration Team review the pending casual payments requested by Departments and Faculties to check

A valid right to work check has been recorded on PeopleXD
Student/Tier 4/Skilled Worker/Tier 5 visa holders are not exceeding the maximum hours imposed by their visa
Work undertaken by Student/Tier 4 visa holders for colleges in combination with Department, Faculty engagements does not exceed the maximum hours permitted.

For information about the employment process from a Personnel point of view, please see the Casual Workers and Casual teachers page on the University of Oxford HR Support website.

Please send an email and relevant documents to Tier4casualpayments@admin.ox.ac.uk

where a Student/Tier 4 student visa holder is working over 20 hours per week on a casual basis. More information about this can be found below

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Employing Casual Workers with UK Visas (Except Student/Tier 4)

An employing department or college must check the right to work of a casual worker before their employment starts. If the individual is a List A document holder (please see table below), they have no restriction on the type of work they can do, or their weekly working hours.

British or Irish national
National of EU/EEA country who has Settled status
Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) holder

If the casual worker is a List B document holder, there may be some work restrictions that apply. Please see the table below for more information.

Selection of List B visas - Work restrictions to consider when employing on casual basis
Visa type	Work restriction
Global Talent visa	No work restrictions - Except cannot work as a professional sports person/coach
Graduate	No work restrictions - Except cannot work as a professional sports person/coach
Skilled Worker/ Tier 2 (General) visa	Permitted to work up to 20 hours per week as supplementary employment. Several additional restrictions apply. Please see Supplementary employment page for more information
Student/ Tier 4 visa holder	Normally restricted to working 20 hours per week. Please see the according below for more information and exemptions
Tier 5 (Sponsored researcher) visa holder	Permitted to work up to 20 hours per week as supplementary employment. Several additional restrictions apply. Please see Tier2/5 Supplementary employment page for more information
Tier 5 (Youth Mobility Scheme) visa holder	No work restrictions - Except cannot work as a professional sports person/coach
PBS Dependant visa holder Family member of Global Talent/2/4 or 5 visa holder	No work restrictions - Except cannot work as a professional sports person/coach
UK Ancestry	No work restrictions

For more information about the right to work process, please refer to our right to work pages.

Employing Skilled Worker/ Tier 2 or Tier 5 (sponsored researchers) on a casual basis

Skilled Worker/ Tier 2 and Tier 5 (Sponsored researchers) can be employed on a casual basis in addition to their normal employment or engagement with the University, but there are strict restrictions that apply. Please see full details on the Supplementary Employment page.

Employing Casual Workers on Student/Tier 4 Visas

Student/ Tier 4 visa holders are normally restricted to working up to 20 hours per week, which includes casual hours. Full details on student working restrictions can be found here.

Where a Student/ Tier 4 visa holder plans to work more than 20 hours in any week, the following details must be emailed to Tier4casualpayments@admin.ox.ac.uk

Student Name
Oxford Student Number and course title (if applicable)
Copy of a completed Student Declaration Form
Evidence of their term time (if a non Oxford student)
If the student is a postgraduate research student or a PhD/DPhil student, a letter from their supervisor which confirms the dates that the student is "on holiday" and does not have any study commitments. Please use the Supervisor Template Letter in this situation.

This will allow the Staff Immigration Team to authorise a payment exceeding 20 hours.

Casual pay requests will not be processed for individuals with incorrect or incomplete right to work information in PeopleXD, or where there are questions over Student/ Tier 4 hours.

If pay is stopped the Staff Immigration Team will inform the department why this has happened and a correct casual payment request will need to be resubmitted in the following month.