This information is of relevance to you if you are allowed to work during and outside term time, not if your work permission is limited to work placements.
Most Students and Child students have immigration permission that extends beyond the end of their studies. You can work full time for this extra period once you have completed your course, but you may not be able to work at all if you have not finished your course. There are some exceptions from the usual restrictions if you make an immigration application to ‘switch’ into a work route.

Once you have completed your course and are no longer in term time, you may work full time, leave and re-enter the UK and make further immigration applications.
If you travel during this post-study period, Border Force officials will need to be satisfied when you are entering the UK that you will either

• complete the activity you intend to carry out and leave the UK before your immigration permission expires, or
• submit an in-time application to extend your permission in the UK.

You should carry any relevant documents with you when you travel to show to the Border Force officer if required.
This is particularly important for you if you want to stay in the UK as a Student or if you want to make an application in a work category.

Alternatively, you might choose to make your next immigration application in the UK before you leave, or while you are outside the UK. This means that on re-entry your immigration permission will match your intentions and you are less likely to have to answer questions about your plans.
If you complete your course earlier than the course end date on your confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS), your student sponsor is obliged to report early completion to the Home Office. If you have more than 60 days’ permission when your early completion is reported, the Home Office will contact you to let you know that your immigration permission will be cut short (curtailed). Permission is usually curtailed to the new end date plus the additional period you were originally granted, for example one month, two or four months after the new end date. You can work between the new end date of your course and the new expiry date of your immigration permission. Employers need to see confirmation from your university or college that you have now completed your course.

If at the end of your course you apply to stay in the UK under a work route, you can usually work full time until your work application is decided.

Normally, you must not take work that your work condition prohibits. However, if you have Tier 4 or Student permission, your work condition allows you to start a Tier 2 job after you have applied for Tier 2 permission and before the Home Office makes a decision on that application, even if the job is permanent, full time and/or requires work as an entertainer or professional sportsperson. You can start your Tier 2 job up to three months before your course end date, but no earlier. This means that if you apply for Tier 2 after 12 months of study towards a doctorate, you will usually need to wait for your Tier 2 decision before starting the job.

Similarly, if you have applied under the Start-up route, you can start your business before you receive a decision from the Home Office on your application.

If you have applied for Student permission under the doctorate extension scheme, you can undertake a permanent full-time job, be self-employed or work as an entertainer before you receive a decision on your application as long as your university or college has confirmed to you that you have completed and passed your doctorate.

You might have Student immigration permission that allows you to work, but you leave your course or take a break from it before you have completed it. This includes the situation where your student sponsor withdraws sponsorship temporarily because you need to re-sit exams or repeat some of your course and do not need to be in the UK before you re-sit or repeat, or your sponsor might lose its licence. In these situations, the Home Office will usually curtail your permission so it ends earlier.

The Home Office publication, An employer’s guide to right to work checks states that you may continue working until the new end date of your curtailed Tier 4 or Student permission.

For full details of when employers may and may not employ you in these and similar circumstances, see information under the heading, ‘Impact of a change of circumstances on a Tier 4 points based system student’s right to work’ in the Home Office publication, Employer’s guide to right to work checks.

Note that your immigration permission should not be curtailed if you have been unable to study for a reason related to Covid-19. If your study is suspended for a Covid-19-related reason, you can study full time during this time. Suspension means your course is not taking place for a temporary period; it does not include time when you should be studying online. For details, see Guidance for Student sponsors, migrants and short-term students on temporary concessions in response to the outbreak of coronavirus.