Recent changes to the Home Office sponsor guidance and reported enforcement trends signal a clear shift towards proactive, evidence‑led compliance in maintaining sponsor duties. Employers holding a sponsor licence should take time to review the strength of their HR and immigration processes and address any gaps early. The checklist below highlights key actions to prioritise now.
Key actions employers should be prioritising
- Re‑check sponsored roles against “eligible role” requirements – Confirm job duties, occupation codes, salary levels and business need of sponsored workers remain aligned and are clearly evidenced before assigning or extending a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS).
- Tighten change‑reporting controls – Ensure changes to duties, salary, work location or working hours for sponsored workers are identified and communicated swiftly to ensure the requires report is made on the SMS within 10 working days.
- Audit right to work records across the workforce – Review checks not only for sponsored staff, but also for all employees and directly engaged individuals (potentially including contractors and consultants).
- Ensure active SMS oversight – Level 1 users should be logging into the SMS at least monthly to monitor Home Office messages, activities and guidance updates.
- Retain evidence of employment rights communication – Keep records showing sponsored workers have received information regarding their employment rights including information on pay, working time, leave, pensions, equality rights and grievance procedures.
- Verify salary sustainability and payroll alignment – Confirm sponsored worker salaries match payroll records and can be justified by the organisation’s financial position and turnover.
- Prepare for increased enforcement activity – Consider conducting a mock sponsor compliance or right to work audit, particularly in light of unannounced and digital Home Office checks.
Why this matters
The Home Office is placing greater emphasis on proactive compliance. Whilst the number of sponsor licences being granted remains constant, this comes with tougher scrutiny from the Home Office. For businesses with sponsor licence already, there is an increasing risk of suspension or revocation even where breaches are inadvertent or based on a “reasonable suspicion” of non‑compliance so best to take regular action to ensure good compliance.
Contact our immigration experts if you need advice on reviewing your immigration processes to ensure compliance with your sponsor licence duties.