The Home Office audits Sponsor Licence holders to check compliance, and these audits are not uncustomary.

The UK Home Office has advanced its focus on businesses who want to employ foreign nationals. In particular, sponsor licence holders become unguarded to the Home Office inspection audits at any time. Site visits have been consistently increasing for the past few months now, as the UK government is working to identify and remove illegal workers and penalize Sponsor Licence holders who are not maintaining compliance with their sponsor licence duties.

How can I avoid Non-compliance

While the Sponsor Licence application process seems daunting, getting the sponsor licence granted is a rewarding journey which can open up opportunities for organisations to hire overseas nationals from anywhere in the world.  As a part of sponsor licence application, you receive a pre-licence visit call from the Home Office Compliance Officer. You may expect compliance audits from the Home Office any time.  

There is a zero tolerance limit for non-compliance and illegal working. Failed compliance can lead to a loss of skilled workers and losing capacity to hire skilled workers in the future.  It can also harm the professional reputation of the employer and the nation. The UK courts do not overturn Home Office revocations easily unless there is any significant reason from judicial review

Reasons to be compliant all the more

Your sponsor licence can be revoked or its rating can be downgraded if the set compliances from the Home Office are not met. If the Home Office finds that any of the following compliances are not met, immediate actions are taken against the employer.

  • Sponsor licence holders outsourcing migrant workers to a third party.
  • Employer incapacitated to provide current and past contact details for all migrant workers.
  • Employers’ inability to track worker’s attendance, lack of documentation, poor record maintenance.
  • Employers not updating the status of migrant workers or providing accurate information of their work location
  • The poor management system of leave for migrant workers.

 Certain new conditions have been added to the list of circumstances for the immediate revocation of a sponsor licence:

  1. The employer is supplying false information on the certificate of sponsorship(CoS)
  2. Forged Certificate of sponsorship, where the salary mentioned is different from the actual amount paid to the worker
  3. Assigning the same certificate of Sponsorship to more than one skilled worker
  4. Assigning a Certificate of Sponsorship and claiming that the job was not listed in the Resident Labour Market Test.

What happens in Home Office audits

A very high possibility that Home Office officials when they visit the employer’s site will want to talk to your sponsored overseas workers.This facilitates the opportunity to directly ask migrants about specific employment details such as their current salary, duties, and responsibilities and if any problem they are facing.

Conclusion: This becomes all the more imperative to avoid these damaging aftermaths with extensive knowledge or  taking support from industry specialists with experience in the rules and regulations related to Sponsor Licence. A Y & J Solicitors have been working with small, medium and large companies and multinationals for over a decade now. They have the best immigration lawyers in London who possess the resources and knowledge required to meet the clients and achieve full compliance.