If you’re an organisation with a Sponsor Licence, there are multiple obligations you must adhere to that ensure you remain compliant with Home Office regulations. One of the ways the Home Office assesses compliance is through a Sponsor Licence compliance audit or visit, which may take place on-site or remotely.
A compliance audit can happen with little or no notice, so ensuring your Sponsor Licence holder duties are continually maintained is crucial.
Any organisation with a Sponsor Licence must uphold multiple duties when sponsoring employees on their Worker or Temporary Worker visas. If these duties aren’t upheld to the required standard, the Home Office may take enforcement action against your licence.
As a Sponsor Licence holder, you must report changes that may affect your sponsored workers or organisation to the Home Office through the Sponsor Management System (SMS).
This can include anything from sponsored workers not starting their role as expected, unexpected absenteeism or changes to the role in question.
These changes must be reported within the given timelines:
If UKVI concludes that a worker is carrying out duties which do not match the assigned occupation code, and the change is not otherwise permitted under the rules, this may expose the sponsor to serious compliance action, including revocation.
You must accurately maintain records and documentation for your sponsored workers and report changes to the Home Office via the SMS.
This documentation must be kept up to date and easily accessible, as the Home Office may request this information without prior notice.
These records may include:
Compliance with immigration laws is a requirement of maintaining your Sponsor Licence, including verifying sponsored workers’ right to work in the UK.
UKVI must be satisfied that sponsored roles – known as an ‘eligible role’ – are commercially credible and supported by the business’s operations.
This includes, but isn’t limited to:
As well as immigration law, you’re required to comply with wider UK law, including but not limited to:
Failure to comply with wider legal obligations can affect your ability to retain a Sponsor Licence.
All Sponsor Licence holders have a responsibility to conduct themselves in a manner that’s consistent with the Home Office’s values and not detrimental to the wider public good.
Such behaviour may include:
The Home Office provides an exhaustive list of all Sponsor Licence responsibilities.
Home Office compliance monitoring can take place both in person and online, so ensuring all Sponsor Licence duties are completed is critical to remaining compliant. Whether on-site or digitally, these audits can be unannounced and at random, risk-based or routine.
An audit may take place:
If a Home Office representative visits your premises, you must comply with their requests.
The specific requirements of the visit will differ; however, the representative may request:
A remote compliance audit, also known as a Home Office desktop or digital audit, allows the Home Office to inspect relevant documents and records to ensure Sponsor Licence holders are compliantly completing their duties.
A remote audit may include:
Remote audits are just as important as on-site visits, and require dedicated preparation and care.
A Home Office audit focus is to show that the sponsor is meeting its duties in practice, not just on paper, including but not limited to:
You must remain compliant with your Sponsor Licence duties at all times to ensure you don’t lose your licence or put the immigration status of your workers at risk.
If the Home Office finds you failing to comply with Sponsor Licence obligations, you may be subject to:
Revocation is the most serious outcome and can have significant consequences for both your organisation and your sponsored workers. In serious cases, sponsored workers may have their immigration permission curtailed.
Non-compliance may also expose the organisation to wider regulatory consequences, including civil penalties where illegal working breaches are identified.
For these reasons, ongoing management is critical to avoid any negative audit results for both your organisation and your sponsored workers.
With extensive experience in the ever-changing world of immigration, our specialists can help with a range of Sponsor Licence management services to ensure you remain compliant and aren’t caught unawares:
Our team of immigration specialists has extensive experience assisting organisations of all sizes in fulfilling their Sponsor Licence obligations and successfully sponsoring migrant workers and students.
Whether you need a one-off compliance review, support with an upcoming Home Office audit, or ongoing help managing your sponsor duties, Five Star can help.
