Sponsor Licence Revoked? 5 Immediate Steps to Mitigate

Sponsor Licence Revoked causes serious impact to an organisation or a business. Home Office can suspend, revoke or cancel a sponsor licence. If they believe you, as the organisation or a business are not fulfilling its obligations. The UK Home Office issues this licence, which provides both organizations and businesses with the right to sponsor migrant labor and encourage compliance with strict immigration controls.

This article identifies five practical steps on checking and being compliant on the sponsor licence requirements. For those who are part of the leadership teams, human resources and strategic partners. 

By applying and adopting correct policies, this would help to avoid human capital loss and legal risks. In short, in our article we would look to explain and provide helpful guidance to avoid sponsor licence issues:

• Reasons why a sponsor licence could be cancelled/withdrawn or suspended. 
• Learning about the legal implications and the impact to the organisation/business. 
• Impact to migrants who are sponsored, including change in their legal status. 
• Create a strategic plan on compliance and how to meet the requirements as set out by the Home Office policy law. 

As with any organisation or a business, if a sponsor licence is revoked, this would surely impact your business operations and create an unnecessary legal matter which has to be dealt with. Learning the impact and how to prevent one, is important for operational and leadership teams. 

Cooling-off period of sponsor licence revocation

Where your sponsor licence is revoked or withdrawn by the Home Office. Then there will be a “cooling off” periods being applied. The cooling off period is accurate at the date on this publication and can change:

• If the sponsor licence is revoked, 12 months cooling period applies. 
• Where there is a civil penalty being applied due to non-compliance and other regulatory issues. This can lead up to 5 years ban.

When the above applies, the Home Office will impact that the issues are addressed when a new application is filed. 

• Usually, when a sponsor licence application is re-applied post a revocation, or a cancellation. The Home Office will conduct a site visit. 
• The Home Office Official will conduct relevant checks, discuss the previous issues and advise on any concerns. Which may be required to be addressed prior a decision is made on the sponsor licence application. 
• If a decision is made on the site visit that the organisation or business is not suitable for the sponsor licence. The Home Office will apply a further cooling off period. 

Learning on the impact of a revoked

For all organisations and businesses, including educational institutions, holding a sponsor licence is important. This allows the flexibility for them to bring-in skilled workers to compete in the competitive business market. 

We know that our NHS is a prime example of the vast shortage of skilled workers that it requires. The introduction of the health & care work visa is an example on the initiative applied by the Home Office. 

In talent market, holding a sponsor licence allows you to find workforce throughout the UK, abroad faster and more efficient. 

Where either the organisation or a business loses that sponsor licence. The impact of that loss would surely be in human capital, impact to business operations and impact customer delivery model. 

The costs recovery is unexplainable and then to cover the shortfall. Which may include employing high-costs agency workers, can surely be a serious financial burden. Further to that, if the work is skilled, then to replace someone would be difficult. 

Operational and leadership teams including human resources teams, creating a strategic back-up plan. It would be important to ensure that impact could be minimized. 

Understanding what can lead to a sponsor licence being revoked

Once the Home Office grants a sponsor licence. Your organisation or business would be issued access to the Home Office Sponsor Management System (SMS). This allows you to operate the sponsor licence on the day-to-day basis and report changes, including meeting compliance requirements. 

Firstly here are some examples of a sponsor licence being revoked by the Home Office. 

• Failure to comply with record-keeping requirements: Employers must maintain appropriate records of sponsored employees.
• Failure to comply with reporting obligations: Companies must report any material changes in relation to their sponsored employees. Which would include organisational/business changes. 
• Failure to comply with the immigration rules: This could include failing to check sponsored employees are in the correct job, on the correct wage, and under the correct visa terms.
• Criminality or fraud: If a company is involved in criminality, such as illegal employees, their sponsor licence would be revoked.
• Failure to meet reporting requirements: Failure to report changes in sponsored worker status. For example, changes in employment or absence to the Home Office can result in inquiry.
• Inadequate record-keeping: Inability to maintain tight records. For example, right to work checks, is an invitation to sanctions.
• Breach of visa conditions: Permitting sponsored workers to work outside of visa arrangements is a common offence.
• Misrepresentation or in-accurate information: Providing misleading information on application or renewal of licence will lead to instant revocation.

Impact of losing the sponsorship

Basically, the Home Office publishes information on how the employee impact of loss sponsor licence. Who would have their skilled worker visas cancelled.

Generally a suspended sponsor licence affects most strongly through an organisation’s human assets. Sponsored employees’ right to remain in the UK legally are impacted. Here are some issues an employee could face:

• Cancellation of the skilled worker visa: Sponsored employees typically have a 60-day window to seek new sponsorship or depart from the UK. If this fails, their presence is illegal and will be given removal directions. 
• Operational gaps: Roles held by affected workers can go unstaffed, slowing down important projects.
• Recruitment disruption: Pending visa applications for prospective hires are rendered invalid, causing talent acquisition disruption.

You can take an example of a mid-sized London tech firm with five software developers on sponsored visas. Revocation of their company sponsor licence would send all five out within a span of two months, unsettling development schedules and client relationships. The consequences are severe.

Strategic planning and compliance checks

Here we have put together some useful guidance’s and what to do, to avoid a sponsor licence being revoked by the Home Office. Understanding the reason for revocation or a cancelled sponsor licence is not just diagnostic it is strategic. It determines future steps, whether in challenging the decision or in strengthening compliance procedures.

Step 1: Conducting compliance and audit

As with any systems that are in place, this needs to be checked from documentations that are held to systems in place, and check-off the Home Office policy guidance of what needs to be either improved or created. 

1. For example, for your employee record keeping, holding a software which allows you to keep real-time data is essential. To get help or guidance on the most suitable application software. You can speak to our technology partner Tech ICS.
2. Employee documents, how you are holding those. For example, are they available easily if requested. You may wish to consider both paper and online platforms to ensure information/documents are always accessible. 
3. Systems in place to understand how you assign/remove or apply for a new Certificate of Sponsorship, referred as CoS. 

If you are unsure, you can give us a call on 0207 237 3388. You can also send us an email at info@icslegal.com, or Book Consultation

Did you know? Home Office are now conducting unplanned visits to sites. Be sure to be ready prior to any visits. 

Step 2: Actionable steps to follow

• Audit organisational or business staffs: Compile a list of sponsored staff, visa status, and any other relevant details including when their visas are due to expire. You should also conduct paper auditing and ask all employees to complete personal information sheet. To ensure you have all the most important details including updated contact details. 
• Communicate openly: Create an employee-focused plan to ensure those who you employ, whether sponsored or not, are able to have an open forum to communicate issues. During a Home Office audit, you may be asked on how employees are able to communicate issues/changes, and anything related to their employment. 

Step 3: Accessible human resources guidances

Whether your business/organisation is small or an enterprise, having in place robust and clear human resources policies is to protect you and the business. 

• Using a sponsor licence platform, you can create and build human resources guidance’s. Which are then accessible by those who you employ. 

Step 4: Plan to audit at regular intervals

• There are no set periods you need to wait and conduct an audit. Being part of the operational or leadership team. It’s important that an audit into your systems and the people you hire is done every 6 months. 

Step 5: Create a recruitment contingency plan

• When a sponsor licence is revoked. The Home Office will usually notify the sponsored work visa holders about the cancellation of their work visa. Which is reduced to 60 days.
• As a responsible organisation, you should have in place a recruitment contingency plan and use the following as a guide:
• Domestic talent axis: Priority to hiring from the UK or the European Union’s inhabited pool to plug immediate intervals.
• Remote Workforce Extension: Take advantage of legal institutions abroad to employ talent remotely, bypassing the lack of UK visa. 
• Internal Access: Invest in training to elevate existing employees in important roles emptied by sponsored workers.

For example, financial services firm may recruit to the UK graduates, while analysts may incite analysts to handle managerial duties. Flexibility is important, so you should have in place the following:

• Map of important roles and their dependence. 
• Establish a talent reserve, updated quarterly. 
• Allocate budget for training and remote infrastructure.

This blueprint not only reduces immediate risks but also strengthens the organization against the turmoil of the future, ensuring adaptability in an unstable landscape.

Sponsor licence application software

ICS Legal through our strategic partner Tech ICS have developed a complete sponsor licence application. Which allows you to manage the entire sponsor licence platform and its compliance obligations. 

The platform allows you to do the following:

• Hold all employee personal and other important information including documents. 
• Record absences/holidays and others. 
• Automate Home Office reporting.
• Flag anomalies in real-time.
• Securely store information with ease of audit.

Legally challenging a revoked or cancelled sponsor licence

If the Home Office decides to cancel or revoke a sponsor licence, there are no automatic appeal rights. You will need to check the contents of the decision letter to understand why the Home Office have decided to cancel the sponsor licence. This will allow you and your legal team to understand what went wrong and whether there were errors made by the Home Office. 

As with any legal decisions that are made, this can be challenged and here are some legal remedies available:

1. You can file for reconsideration to the Home Office with formal documents, setting out reasons why decision was wrong.
2. File a judicial review application to the Admin Court to challenge against the decision. The court would expect that you have filed a pre-action letter to the Home Office Lawyers and have discussed on alternative dispute resolution prior taking the matter before the court. 

Case laws, legal challenges and making further submissions

We will advise and submit any legal representations, including any court applications. In our legal defines, we set out public law arguments including unlawful decisions that are made by the Home Office. 

ICS Legal through our experience and case-work approach allows us in a position to advise and legally challenge against a decision made by the Home Office.