UK Home Office Increases Compliance Duties for Sponsor Licence Holders

At a Glance

• Sponsors should ensure they provide sponsored workers with written information about their employment rights (for example, during onboarding or induction).
• Sponsors should maintain records confirming that this information has been provided, such as signed acknowledgements, and retain this evidence for the required duration.
• The genuine vacancy requirement has been replaced with a new eligible role test.

The UK Home Office has recently reiterated and strengthened obligations placed on sponsor licence holders regarding the welfare and employment rights of sponsored workers.

On 5 March 2026, the Home Office updated its Sponsor Licence guidance to introduce an additional compliance obligation for organisations sponsoring foreign workers. The updated guidance confirms that all sponsors must comply with UK employment law, including ensuring and promoting the workplace-related welfare of workers they sponsor and ensuring that sponsored workers understand their employment rights. This new requirement came into effect on 6 March.

The updated guidance follows earlier rule changes requiring sponsors to meet minimum salary thresholds during each pay period (subject to permitted variations), rather than assessing salary compliance on an annual basis. There is also an increasing expectation of data-sharing between the Home Office and UK tax authorities to verify salary payments made to sponsored workers. This enhanced cooperation allows authorities to corroborate salary information and may automatically flag potential breaches where payroll records do not align with sponsorship obligations.

Informing Sponsored Workers of Their Employment Rights

Under the updated guidance, sponsors must ensure that sponsored employees are informed of their workplace rights. These include, but are not limited to:

• Entitlement to National Minimum Wage
• Compliance with the Working Time Regulations
• Pension auto-enrolment and opt-outs
• Entitlement to statutory leave and pay
• Health and safety requirements
• Trade union membership, participation in union activities, and the rights of trade union representatives (where compatible with the sponsored role)
• Employer duties under the Equality Act
• How to raise workplace grievances

Further information on these rights can be found through the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), which provides guidance for employers and employees in England, Scotland, and Wales. Sponsors based in Northern Ireland can access similar guidance from the Labour Relations Agency.

Record-Keeping Requirements

Sponsors must have appropriate HR systems or processes in place demonstrating that this information has been provided to sponsored workers. Evidence must be retained throughout the period of sponsorship and until the later of:

• One year after the sponsorship ends, or
• The date a Home Office compliance officer has examined and approved the record.

In practical terms, sponsors should ensure they:

• Provide sponsored workers with written information about their employment rights (for example, during onboarding or induction)
• Maintain records confirming that this information has been provided, such as signed acknowledgements
• Retain this evidence for the required duration

Failure to comply with sponsor duties may result in compliance action from the UK Home Office, including licence suspension or revocation.

Eligible Role Test Replaces the Genuine Vacancy Requirement

The genuine vacancy requirement has been replaced with a new eligible role test. To satisfy this test, a role must meet the following criteria:

• The role must exist, or be reasonably expected to exist, at the time the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) is assigned.
• The sponsored worker must carry out the duties, responsibilities, and working hours specified on the CoS.
• The role must satisfy all requirements of the relevant immigration route, including the appropriate skill level, salary thresholds, the National Minimum Wage Regulations, and the Working Time Regulations.
• The role must be suitable for the sponsoring organisation, considering its business model, operational plans, and size.
• These requirements must continue to be met throughout the entire sponsorship period.

If these conditions are not met, there is a mandatory obligation on the caseworkers to refuse sponsor licence applications or revoke the sponsor licence.

Unlike the previous genuine vacancy requirement, which applied only to certain immigration routes, the eligible role test now applies across all sponsored immigration routes. As a result, the mandatory grounds for refusing applications or revoking sponsor licences have been broadened to include the failure to meet this requirement.

For More Information

For further information, you may contact the authors or the UK employment law team.