Compliance, Reporting and Record Keeping – the key to keeping your care home sponsor licence in tact By Lisa Mulholland, Head of Immigration at Stephens Scown LLP

In our experience, with the right support, knowledge and advice in place, employers are often pleasantly surprised with how straightforward the process can be in applying for a sponsor licence and assigning certificates of sponsorship to overseas workers. This has resulted in a huge number of health and social care organisations of all sizes, putting in place a licence. This has in turn started to relieve some, but not all, of the recruitment woes in the sector.

However, in more recent times, we are now seeing an increase in care providers having their licences revoked following a Home Office compliance visit. But why is this the case?

So now you have your sponsor licence in place, what now?

Once your licence is in place, the work does not unfortunately stop there! The Home Office see sponsorship as a privilege and not a right and therefore require sponsors to comply with many duties during the lifespan of your licence, irrespective of the size of the organisation. The fundamental sponsor duties include:

• record keeping and retention of documents
• reporting changes to the sponsored workers’ employment, as well as to the organisation
• compliance with UK immigration law
• compliance with wider UK law, cooperating with UKVI and acting in the wider public good

If these duties are not complied with, following an announced or unannounced compliance visit from UKVI, employers risk their licence being downgraded, suspended, or even revoked. This may mean that you are no longer able to recruit additional skilled workers into your care home (you will then be restricted to only employing British citizens or settled workers) and in such situation the jobs of your current sponsored workers may be at risk.

What can I do right now to ensure compliance?

The first thing to do is familiarise yourself with the Home Office guidance on compliance, as well as the Sponsor Management System, particularly if you are named as Key Personnel. We would also suggest that you do a full audit of the right to work documentation that you have on file for all employees. If you find gaps in documentation you should consider carrying out repeat right to work checks and reviewing your current onboarding processes. You should also review the additional paperwork that you have on file for all sponsored employees, to ensure that the correct notifications have been made to UKVI, before it becomes an issue. After all, late notifications are better than no notifications (when required) being made at all.

If you are unsure what your duties are, or you uncover any immigration issues during your audit, you should seek advice from an immigration expert immediately. Maintaining your sponsor licence may seem like an onerous and daunting process, but with the right processes in place, you will be able to secure the skilled workers that you need for the continued success of your care home.  

What is on the horizon for this area of law?

The Home Office have made various recent announcements which will impact businesses which employ, or are looking to recruit, migrant workers:

• individuals in the UK on student visas will not be able to switch to Skilled Worker visas until they have finished their course. Previously, students could switch into a work route before the end of their studies.
• civil penalties issued to employers for illegal working are going to be tripled, where they have failed to carry out compliant Right to Work checks. The penalties will increase from £15,000 to £45,000 per illegal worker, providing it is the first offence, rising to £60,000 for repeated offenders.
• there will also be significant increases in immigration application fees and the health surcharge, which are expected this month (September 2023). Work and visit visas will rise by 15%. Student visas, certificates of sponsorship, settlement, citizenship, entry clearance and leave to remain applications by at least 20%. The immigration health surcharge will increase from £624 to £1,035 per year, per applicant.

Our immigration team is on hand to assist you with the process of obtaining a sponsor licence and ensuring you meet the requirements regarding compliance, having years of experience in successfully supporting and guiding organisations in this area.