What happens while your documents are under review

Once you've finished the signup form, your dashboard switches to a single centred card that says "Your documents are under review". That's the queue we put new operatives in. This page explains what's actually happening behind the scenes and what to do if it takes longer than expected.

What our team is checking

Your insurance certificate — Public Liability of at least £2,000,000 AND Care, Custody and Control cover, with a valid expiry date.
Your government ID — we cross-check the document you uploaded matches the identity Stripe Identity already verified.
Your right-to-work proof — passport or share code, depending on which path you took.
Your business details — that the tax IDs you provided match the structure you chose (sole trader / limited company / partnership).

How long it takes

The pending screen says 24 to 48 hours. That's the realistic range. In practice most reviews finish well inside that window if you signed up during UK business hours; a signup that comes in late evening or over a weekend usually lands first thing the next working day.

The clock is wall-clock from when you completed signup — not "from when our team next looks at the queue". We do not currently have a 24/7 review team, so weekend signups are reviewed Monday morning.

What you'll receive when a decision is made

We'll email you — both on approval and on rejection. You don't need to keep the dashboard tab open. The approval email points you back to the dashboard to finish wallet setup; the rejection email explains which specific item needs attention.

Common reasons we send back for changes

Insurance certificate doesn't include Care, Custody and Control cover.
Insurance Public Liability limit is below £2,000,000.
Uploaded the policy summary instead of the full certificate.
ID photo is blurry or the document has expired.
Right-to-work share code has expired (codes only last 90 days).
Tax ID doesn't match the format we expect (NI / UTR / CRN regex).

If you receive a "send-back" email, the dashboard re-opens the specific step that needs fixing. You don't have to restart signup — just update the one thing and resubmit.

What you can do while waiting

Nothing is required from you during the review window. If you have time on your hands and want to get a head start on the post-approval setup, you can:

Have your bank sort code and account number ready for Stripe Connect.
Read the rest of this Help Centre, especially the day-to-day operations articles, so the first real job feels familiar.

The Log out button is the only action available on the pending dashboard. That's deliberate — the dispatch screens don't make sense to show until you're approved.

What to do if it's stalled past 48 hours

If 48 hours of UK business time have passed and you haven't heard from us, email [email protected]. Include your operative email and we'll dig out where the review is and push it forward. Don't re-sign-up — that creates a duplicate record and makes the queue messier.