Agentic UK Right to Work (RTW) continuous monitoring, re-check reminder, and Home Office civil penalty response service for small employers (1–50 staff) with time-limited visa holders on their payroll. Replaces the HR consultant or immigration adviser who charges £200–£600 per audit cycle to track expiry dates, issue re-check instructions, and draft the civil penalty objection — a process where fines reached £60,000 per illegal worker in February 2024 under new penalty rates.
Why now
Home Office increased Right to Work civil penalty rates to £45,000–£60,000 per worker effective 13 February 2024 (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/illegal-working-penalties-increased-to-record-levels) — a clear policy-change trigger making the cost of non-compliance existential for SMEs.
Source signals
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/illegal-working-penalties-increased-to-record-levels
Commercial value
Home Office doubled civil penalties to £45,000 (first offence) and £60,000 (repeat) per illegal worker from February 2024 — this is a new, acute budget line for any employer with visa holders. 500,000+ UK SMEs employ at least one non-UK national. Target ACV: £120–£300/mo for ongoing monitoring (replaces ad-hoc HR consultant retainer). Even 3,000 customers at £180/mo = £6.5m ARR. Willingness to pay is high because a single missed re-check now costs £45k.
Go-to-market
Target UK hospitality, care, and construction SMEs via r/smallbusiness, LinkedIn HR groups, and accountant/payroll bureau referral partnerships. Offer a free 'RTW Audit Scan' (upload your staff list, get expiry risk report). Convert to £149/mo monitoring. First 10 customers reachable through direct outreach to hospitality operators on Instagram/LinkedIn within 2 weeks.
2-week MVP
A simple CSV/spreadsheet upload of employee names + visa expiry dates → automated email alerts 90/60/30 days before expiry + a one-page re-check instruction letter per employee generated by LLM. No dashboard, no API integrations, no HRMS sync. First customer pays £99/mo and gets their first expiry alert batch within 24 hours. Civil penalty response drafting and Home Office portal integration are cut from v1.
Agent score
0.65 — Commercial score is very high: £45k–£60k penalty per worker creates genuine fear-driven spend; the budget line (previously paid to HR/immigration consultants) is real and recurring. Speed score is near-maximum: MVP is a spreadsheet parser + cron job + LLM letter generator, shippable in 3–5 days; first 10 customers reachable via LinkedIn DM to hospitality/care HR managers with a free audit hook. Defensibility is modest: moat builds only as the product integrates with HRMS platforms and accumulates employer-specific re-check audit trails.
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Solve Studio is an independent AI automation and product studio founded by James Pates, working out of Brighton and London with clients across the UK. Get in touch at james@solve-studio.co.