Agentic UK right-to-work check, documentation, and audit-trail service for small employers (1–50 staff), replacing the HR consultant or employment solicitor who manually verifies documents, records share codes, and maintains the statutory audit file required under the Immigration Act 2014. Delivers a compliant, timestamped right-to-work record for each worker and a repeatable onboarding workflow — reducing a £150–£400/employee consultant task to under £15.
Why now
No live signal provided today; justified by standing UK Home Office civil penalty regime (Immigration Act 2014, updated penalty rates effective January 2024) and persistent r/smallbusiness and r/legaladvice threads on right-to-work fine exposure. Home Office guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-work-checks-employers-guide
Source signals
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-work-checks-employers-guide
Commercial value
UK employers face civil penalties of up to £60,000 per illegal worker from 2024; a single fine dwarfs years of subscription spend. SMEs with regular hiring (hospitality, construction, care, logistics) pay HR consultants or agencies £150–£400 per new starter for compliance checks. At £29/month for up to 10 checks or £9/check pay-as-you-go, ACV easily reaches £350–£1,200 for active hirers. ~300,000 UK SMEs hire regularly in high-risk sectors.
Go-to-market
Target UK hospitality and construction Facebook groups, LinkedIn HR communities, and Xero/FreeAgent app marketplaces. Offer a free first-5-checks trial. Cold email HR consultants as white-label resellers. Price: £29/month (10 checks) or £9/check. First 10 customers reachable via r/smallbusiness UK and hospitality owner forums in under 2 weeks.
2-week MVP
A single-page intake form where an employer enters a new starter's name, document type, and share code (or uploads a document photo); the system calls the Home Office online checking service, captures a timestamped screenshot, and emails a formatted PDF audit record to the employer. No dashboard, no bulk workflow, no integrations — just the one-check-to-PDF outcome. First customer pays £9 to get a defensible, timestamped record they can show in an audit.
Agent score
0.68 — Commercial score high because the penalty asymmetry (£60k fine vs £9/check) creates clear willingness to pay and a named budget line (HR compliance/onboarding). Speed high because MVP is a form + API call + PDF email, shippable solo in under a week; first 10 customers reachable via hospitality/construction owner communities with no paid ads. Defensibility low-medium — the workflow lock-in (audit trail accumulates over time) is the main moat; a competitor could replicate the core check easily, so score stays below 0.5.
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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.