Important changes to sponsor guidance
The Home Office released updated sponsor guidance on New Years Eve. This contains three important changes that sponsors need to be aware of.
Recouping the costs of sponsorship
The Home Office have tightened the rules around recouping costs associated with sponsorship.
Sponsors must not recoup any of the following charges from a sponsored worker;
- Immigration skills charge
- The certificate of sponsorship assignment fee for any certificate of sponsorship assigned on or after 31st December 2024
- The sponsorship licence fee and/or any associated administrative costs where the sponsor licence application was made on or after 31st December 2024. This includes any fee associated with adding a route to an existing sponsor licence.
Key action point- Sponsors should review any clawback or other agreement that they have with sponsored workers and make sure that they are not recovering any of the costs listed above. Any sponsor found to have done so will normally have their sponsor licence revoked.
Key Personnel
There are three key personnel roles on any sponsor licence. They are the Authorising Officer, Key Contact and Level One user. All key personnel must be based in the UK. They must have a national insurance number unless they are exempt from having one. These requirements are not new.
From 31st December 2024, all new sponsors must have a level one user who is an employee, director or office holder within the sponsor organisation. The first level one user must also be a ‘settled worker’. This has an unusual definition and is set out at S1.2 of the sponsor guidance .
In addition, key personnel must not be prohibited from being a company director. The only exception is where a court has given permission for an individual to act as a director or form a business. However, the sponsorship role must not contravene the permission given by the court.
Key action point- although this rule change is not retrospective, it would be advisable for sponsor to review their key personnel. It would be sensible to ensure that there is a level one user who meets the requirements above.
Sponsoring workers in a personal capacity
The Home Office do not want the sponsorship system to be used to sponsor domestic workers.
The guidance has now been updated to explicitly prevent sponsors sponsoring workers in a personal capacity. This covers scenarios where a worker is recruited to work within a personal household or provide personal services to an individual or family, rather than being employed as part of a business or other organisation. Examples could be chefs in a private household. There is a minor exemption for domestic servants in diplomatic households.
The guidance also prevents businesses sponsoring a worker who is being hired for the personal benefit of an individual within the organisation, or their family members where their role is not connected to the business’s wider activities. This is designed to prevent a scenario where a business sponsors a worker to provide personal services to a senior manager, in order to facilitate that manager’s work for the business. An example could be a business sponsoring a private tutor to homeschool the children of the CEO.
A sponsor who already has a licence must not use the licence to sponsor workers in a personal capacity in future. If a sponsor is already a worker in a personal capacity, then they must not assign a new certificate of sponsorship to that worker. This means that they will have to switch to a different visa which allows work, or end their employment.
Key action point- Sponsors who are currently sponsoring workers in a personal capacity should review their arrangements urgently and start planning for the end of sponsorship for those workers.
Support with the new changes to sponsor guidance
OTB Legal specialise in helping sponsors navigate the complex sponsorship rules. If you need help or advice with any sponsorship compliance issues, book a free appointment with one of our lawyers to discuss how we can assist.