Sponsor licence duties: what employers must do

A sponsor licence lets you employ workers from overseas, for example on the Skilled Worker route. It comes with ongoing duties, and the Home Office expects you to meet them for as long as you hold the licence. This guide sets out the main duties and what can happen if they are missed.

Your key personnel

When you apply for a licence, you name the people who will manage it. These are:

• an Authorising Officer, the senior person responsible for how the licence is used
• a Key Contact, the main point of contact with the Home Office
• one or more Level 1 Users, who carry out day-to-day tasks on the sponsor management system (SMS), the Home Office's online system for sponsors

Keep these details up to date. If one of these people leaves or changes role, you need to report it on the SMS and make sure someone suitable takes over.

Reporting changes

You must report certain events on the SMS within set deadlines. For sponsored workers, you usually have 10 working days to report things like:

• a worker not starting work
• a worker being absent without permission for more than 10 consecutive working days
• a worker's employment ending, or you stopping sponsoring them for another reason
• significant changes to their job, pay, or place of work

Many changes to your organisation, such as a new owner, name, or address, need to be reported within 20 working days. Late or missing reports can count against you if the Home Office reviews your compliance.

Keeping the right records

You must keep certain documents for each sponsored worker. The full list is in Appendix D of the Home Office guidance for sponsors. It includes:

• a copy of their right to work check
• their current contact details, including address and phone number
• records of their attendance and absence
• evidence of how you recruited them, such as adverts and interview notes, where this applies
• payslips or other records showing what you pay them

You need to keep these records while you sponsor the worker and for a set period afterwards. Keep them organised, because a compliance officer may ask to see them at short notice.

Right to work checks

You must check that every employee has the right to work in the UK before they start. This applies to all staff, including British and Irish citizens, not just sponsored workers. A correct check, carried out and recorded in the way the Home Office sets out, gives you a statutory excuse. That is a legal defence against a civil penalty if someone turns out to be working illegally.

Most people with immigration permission now hold an eVisa, an online record of their immigration status, instead of a physical document. For these workers, you will usually need to use the Home Office online checking service, with a share code the worker gives you.

For British and Irish citizens, you can check an original document such as a passport. For those with a valid passport, you can also use a certified identity service provider to do a digital check.

If a worker's permission is time-limited, diarise a follow-up check before it expires. Keep a copy of each check securely for the length of the employment and for two years after it ends.

Pay and the job itself

Each sponsored worker must be paid at least the salary stated on their Certificate of Sponsorship. This is the electronic record, with a unique reference number, that you assign to a worker when you sponsor them.

Pay is assessed for each pay period, not just across the year. Unpaid leave, reduced hours, or deductions can take a worker below the required level, even for a single month. Overtime, bonuses, and most allowances do not usually count. Only limited exceptions apply, so check the sponsor guidance before you reduce anyone's pay or hours. Salary thresholds change regularly, so check the current figures on GOV.UK.

The worker must also do the job described on their Certificate of Sponsorship, under the occupation code you chose. If their real duties are different, the Home Office may decide the role is not genuine. You must also comply with wider UK employment law, such as the National Minimum Wage.

Sponsorship costs

You must pay the costs of sponsorship yourself. You cannot pass them on to the worker, including through pay deductions or repayment clauses. These costs include:

• the sponsor licence fee
• the Certificate of Sponsorship fee
• the Immigration Skills Charge, a charge most sponsors pay for each sponsored worker
• associated administrative costs, such as legal fees for the licence or for assigning a Certificate of Sponsorship

The worker's own visa application fee and Immigration Health Surcharge are different. These are the worker's costs, although an employer can choose to pay them.

Compliance visits and consequences

The Home Office can visit you before or after granting a licence, with or without notice. Officers may check your records and HR systems, and speak to managers and sponsored workers.

If they find problems, the Home Office can:

• downgrade your licence and require you to follow an action plan to put things right
• suspend your licence while it investigates
• revoke your licence

If your licence is revoked, your sponsored workers' permission will usually be cut short. They then need to find a new sponsor, switch to another route, or leave the UK. You may also face civil penalties if illegal working is found, and you will not usually be able to apply for a new licence for a set period.

Regular internal reviews can help you find gaps before a Home Office visit does. To get started, try our sponsor compliance checklist. If you are thinking about applying, see sponsor licences.