Home Office tightens sponsor licence rules: key Spring 2026 changes

The Home Office updated its sponsor compliance guidance on 6 March 2026, issuing new versions of the three Worker and Temporary Worker Sponsor Guidance documents, and of Appendix D and the Sponsor a Skilled Worker guidance.

The changes signify a strengthening of the grounds under which the Home Office can take compliance action, which echoes the increase in Home Office compliance checks and enforcement. A key change is that the ‘genuine vacancy’ concept has been replaced with the term ‘eligible role’.  We look at these changes further below.

1. Strengthened grounds to take compliance action

The update:

• Becoming a sponsor is voluntary and sponsors are subject to strict adherence to the rules of the sponsorship scheme to maintain the integrity of the scheme, as set out in the guidance.
• The threshold for compliance action has been lowered to the bar of ‘reasonable suspicion’. This means that the Home Office can refuse a sponsor licence application, or revoke a sponsor licence if they reasonably suspect that the sponsor is not suitable for sponsorship, or that the sponsor has breached or is likely to breach the guidance.
• A sponsor licence application will normally be refused if they have reason to believe you pose a risk to the good governance and integrity of the sponsorship system or to the integrity of the wider UK immigration system.
• A sponsor licence can be revoked where the sponsor is unsuitable, and the high level of trust placed in them is unwarranted. Breaches do not need to be deliberate or made knowingly to lead to revocation.
• If there are reasonable grounds to suspect a breach of duties, this will likely lead to suspension initially pending further investigations.
• An example where a licence is normally revoked, is where your internal communications are not good enough for you to know if a sponsored worker has not reported for work.
• In the event of a proposed licence suspension, sponsors must send all representations within the required deadline. More time may be given to respond if there are exceptional circumstances.

Our comment: This reframes the guidance so that the burden is placed firmly on the sponsor to prove they meet high compliance standards. This permits the Home Office to take compliance action early, where they have reasonable suspicion of a breach, rather than proof.

We are seeing a wider range of compliance action, but there is still a greater focus on high-risk sectors, such as health and social care and construction. The lower threshold provides the Home Office with a tool to move quickly, and a more robust defence against sponsors who challenge cases in court, which we have seen recently in the care sector. This could mean that in practice those who do not fall within high-risk sectors are not as impacted, but the safest policy is to ensure that there are no grounds for early compliance action to be taken. We recommend that all sponsors regularly review that their systems and records meet the sponsor duties and take advice where appropriate.

2. Sponsor required to fully understand the guidance

The update: All prospective sponsors and sponsor licence holders are required to read the sponsor guidance in full (Parts 1, 2 and 3, the appendices, relevant route-specific guidance and glossary), which amounts to around 400 pages. They must also remain on top of any changes to the guidance, which are frequent.

Sponsors must show that they understand and intend to comply with the sponsor duties, to obtain a licence.

The definition of ‘you’ includes any owner, director, Authorising Officer, Key Contact, Level 1 User, person recorded on Companies House as a Person with Significant Control, or person involved in your day to day running.

Our comment: The sponsor guidance is extremely dense and complex, and is difficult even for immigration lawyers to grasp, and there are extensive changes at least twice a year. It seems entirely unrealistic that each of the people included in the definition of ‘you’ in the guidance could be expected to read and understand it.

It is not clear how or to what extent the Home Office can test whether sponsors have read the guidance, as sponsors cannot be expected to be immigration law experts.

In many cases compliance checks involve an email request for information and records, without an interview. In other cases, a digital interview is carried out with the Authorising Officer, who can choose to have a colleague present to provide supporting information, such as an HR official.

Again, it is possible that the Home Office will use this stricter guidance mainly as a tool to more efficiently shut down problematic and high risk sponsors, rather than wasting resources on lower risk, mostly compliant sponsors, but we cannot take this for granted.

If sponsors are compliant with the substance of the guidance, it would seem difficult for the Home Office to challenge them on not remembering a certain paragraph of the guidance. We advise that sponsors read the guidance, and in particular, that they undertake regular reviews as to whether they are complying with it. We can provide support with compliance, including training, information packs, mock compliance checks, and mock interviews where required.

3. Compliance action if sponsor employs or engages an illegal worker

The update:

• A sponsor licence application will normally be refused if the sponsor is found to be employing or engaging a worker, sponsored or not, who does not have permission to stay, or is in breach of their immigration conditions, and you could reasonably have been aware of the breach e.g. a Student who is working more hours than they are allowed to.
• A sponsor licence will normally be revoked in these same circumstances.
• Sponsors must carry out right to work checks on any sponsored workers, including those who are not your direct employees.

Our comment: Civil penalties apply only to illegal workers classified as employees. However, a person’s employment status is often disputed. The Home Office may label someone an employee and impose a civil penalty, requiring employers to prove otherwise. Employers should ensure they can establish from the outset if the person is classified as a worker.

This may change later in 2026 or in 2027 when the right to work rules are expanded. There is now a compliance risk for sponsors in relation to anyone who they engage, if that person turns out to be an illegal worker, even if that person does not have employee status and is not sponsored. This is significant for sponsors. Sponsors who engage large numbers of workers who are not employees, will have to conduct a risk assessment as to how best to proceed, posing questions such as whether they should carry out light touch checks on non-employed, non-sponsored workers, what are the numbers of workers involved, what is the risk level in their sector, and what arguments could be made against revocation, as revocation is discretionary in this case.  

There is increasing information sharing between the Home Office and HMRC, so illegal working could come to light that way and trigger compliance checks.

4. Sponsor Licence decision leter

The update: The Sponsor Licence decision letter may be sent to the Key Contact as well as the Authorising Officer.

Our comment: Please ensure that key personnel details are correct and up to date.

5. Proposed annual salary for sponsored worker not commensurate with organisation’s financial situation

The update: A sponsor licence application can be refused if the Home Office are not satisfied that there is an eligible role. This can include where the organisation is unable to satisfactorily explain how the person’s salary will be funded sustainably.

Our comment: This may be of greater concern for smaller, family run businesses, startups, or pre-revenue businesses. We can advise on a case by case basis if required.

6. Artificial inflation of a worker’s salary to meet the minimum salary thresholds prohibited

The update: If the Home Office has reasonable grounds to suspect that you have artificially inflated a worker’s salary, just so they can qualify for entry clearance, permission to stay, or settlement, they will revoke your sponsor licence.

Our comment: We suggest that sponsors keep on file justification for salary increases for sponsored workers, unless they are incremental increases. The Home Office could measure salary increases against comparable salaries for domestic workers in the organisation, or against the sponsored worker’s previous salary levels. If in doubt, sponsors may wish to take advice as to what could be considered to be artificially inflated.

7. Sponsor required to inform sponsored workers of their worker rights

The update: All sponsors must provide information to any sponsored employees or workers of their employment rights, including, but not limited to:

• entitlement to National Minimum Wage
• compliance with the Working Time Regulations
• pension auto-enrolment and opt-outs
• health and safety
• trade union membership, participation in union activities and the rights of trade union representatives (insofar as this role is otherwise compatible with this guidance and role a worker is being sponsored for)
• your duties under the Equality Act
• how to raise grievances Further information about each of the above can be found on the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) website, which covers England, Scotland and Wales. For sponsors based in Northern Ireland, the Labour Relations agency provides a similar service.

Sponsors must show that they have HR systems or processes in place to provide this information. They must keep on file proof that they have given sponsored workers this information, such as:

• copies of any written information you have provided to your workers (this could be in their contract of employment) or
• training or awareness courses you have provided to your workers

Our comment: Our view is that this is an onerous requirement, which has been implemented with high-risk sectors in mind, such as the care sector. The Home Office may be less concerned for those not in a high-risk sector, but this can still be used as a tool to penalise any sponsor. We can liaise with our employment team to draft information packs where necessary and to consider how to implement this.

8. Sponsors with a range of entities and sites

The update: Organisations can structure their sponsor licence in various ways, but there must be a direct relationship between a sponsor and the sponsored worker. Any site or entity added as a branch to the licence must be linked to the sponsor by common ownership and control. Any structure must be open and transparent, so that sponsorship can be effectively monitored.

Our comment: We suggest that sponsors with multiple branches on their licence review whether this requirement is met and we can help with this. It may be that a full entity update would be helpful so that sponsors know that the correct information is with the Home Office.

9. ‘Genuine vacancy’ replaced with ‘eligible role’

The update: An eligible role means a vacancy or role which exists, or you can reasonably anticipate will exist by the time you assign the Certificate of Sponsorship (‘CoS’), and which matches the job duties and hours on the CoS, or on any CoS allocation request, and meets the skill and salary requirements, and minimum salary requirements of UK employment law, and is appropriate to the business model, plan and scale. The role must continue to meet these requirements throughout the duration, or proposed duration of sponsorship.

In addition, when assigning the CoS, the job duties on the CoS and the occupation code must accurately reflect the job the worker will actually be doing. If the worker’s job changes after the grant of their permission, the change must be reported within 10 working days. If this is not reported, compliance action is likely. The duration on the CoS must be an accurate reflection of the expected duration of the role and must not be exaggerated.

Where the eligible role requirement is not met, this will have the following consequences:

• When applying for a licence – the application must be refused
• When requesting to add a branch to a licence – the request can be refused
• When requesting an undefined CoS allocation – the allocation can be rejected, or a smaller number granted if insufficient justification for the number of CoS has been given
• When requesting a defined CoS allocation – can be rejected if reasonable grounds to believe it is not an eligible role, or if the Home Office is not sufficiently satisfied you will be able to offer guaranteed worker by the start date, or that the existence of the role is otherwise sufficiently certain or secure.
• When assigning a CoS – additional information may be requested as proof that the actual role matches the details on the CoS. If this is not provided within the deadline, the worker’s application may be refused and compliance action may be taken against the sponsor
• At any time – if the worker is working in a role that does not match the occupation code or job description on the CoS, and this is not a permitted change, the sponsor licence will be revoked.

Our comment: Sponsors will need to more carefully review at the outset when considering hiring a sponsored worker or extending their visa, whether they can clearly explain how the role fits with the description on the CoS and with the occupation code, and the duration on the CoS. They will also need processes in place to ensure that the day to day duties align with those on the CoS, and that any changes to the duties approved by the organisation are reported, and that there is a corresponding paper trail. Staff may need training and regular reviews of sponsor duty processes and records will be needed to make sure that this is met.

For sponsors who already have sponsored workers, they should conduct a review as to whether there has been any changes in role since the person was sponsored. If there is any doubt as to whether the day to day job matches the description on the CoS, or as to whether the person is sponsored in the correct occupation code, then they should carry out a review and take corrective action where needed.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our Immigration Team.

The material in this article is provided for guidance and general information only and is not intended to constitute legal or other professional advice upon which you should rely. In particular, the information should not be used as a substitute for a full and proper consultation with a suitably qualified professional. Please do contact the Bates Wells team if you require further advice.