Sponsor duties changes – minor April 2024 update

The Workers and Temporary Workers Sponsor Guidance document Part 2: Sponsor a worker – general information was updated on April 4th 2024.

These updates, in addition to those in line with the Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules HC 590, specifically focus on sponsor duties and responsibilities for workers in the UK, including the following changes:

• Clarification on considerations for deciding a sponsor’s initial annual Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) allocation, which now aligns with both undefined and defined CoS applications.
• Removal of historic references due to the automatic renewal of CoS allocations for all eligible licenses.
• Inclusion of the field ‘agent’ in the ‘Information you must include on the CoS’ application (such as a recruitment agency, employment business or other third-party) if they were used in worker recruitment.
• Exemption from the Immigration Skills Charge (ISC) for sponsored workers who have transferred to a sponsor under TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment rights) or similar protection, caveated with the sponsored worker retaining valid permission and a non-changing role. This will be payable when the worker next applies for permission unless the previous sponsor was exempt from the charge and either:
  • the new CoS won’t result in the worker’s permission extending beyond their current permission, or
  • the previous sponsor was exempt due to the worker having valid permission for the purpose of study when originally sponsored, and the current sponsor is continuing to sponsor that worker in the same role.
• Addition of a new condition for the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement ISC exemption for Senior or Specialist Workers, requiring that the worker must have one year of work experience with the sponsor group before CoS assignment.
• Introduction of a new section on ‘Permission to work while a switching application is pending’, including instructions for sponsors who:
  • have issued a CoS to a worker with a valid permission in another route, and
  • have commenced employment of the worker prior to decision on their Skilled Worker application, which is in turn refused.
  • In this situation, the sponsor is required to stop sponsoring the worker, even if they can continue to employ them on the basis of their existing leave. These changes clarify that sponsor duties begin upon issuing of the CoS.

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