Care providers tend to picture a sponsor licence audit as a scheduled visit with a folder of paperwork handed over at reception. Some are. Others arrive by video call, by letter asking for documents, or by an inspector turning up without warning.
Knowing which forms a check can take, and what the Home Office is trying to establish in each, is most of the preparation. Here is what the guidance says.
What triggers a check
The Home Office can check a sponsor at any point, before a decision on a licence application or long after one has been granted. A check does not have to follow an accusation.
It may follow a reasonable suspicion that you have breached your duties, or that you are no longer suitable to hold a licence. That suspicion can come from a poor compliance record with the Home Office or with another government department, which is a wider net than most providers assume. It can also come from information surfacing while a sponsored worker's visa application is being considered, or from an allegation made by a member of the public.
Compliance is also monitored continually rather than only at the point of a visit. The Home Office makes regular checks with HMRC to confirm you are paying sponsored workers what the rules and your certificates say you are. A mismatch between payroll and the certificate is found without anyone setting foot in your building.
The forms a compliance check takes
A check can involve any of the following, singly or together:
- Asking you for additional documents or information.
- Verifying documents and information you have already provided.
- Visiting you on site.
- A digital compliance check, which is an interview over remote video.
- Checks with other government departments, agencies or local authorities.
- Considering other evidence that comes to light, including allegations from members of the public.
The video route catches providers out. It is a full compliance interview, it carries the same weight as a site visit, and a scheduling email that looks like an informal catch-up is not one.
Announced, unannounced, or neither
Where a check involves a visit or an interview, the Home Office can do it on an announced or an unannounced basis. There is no entitlement to notice.
You must co-operate and allow staff full access to any premises or sites under your control, on demand. If your sponsored workers carry out their duties at a third party's site, which covers a good deal of domiciliary and supported living work, you are responsible for making that third party aware an unannounced visit may happen there, and for making sure they co-operate.
That obligation sits with you rather than with them. A refusal at the door of a site you do not own is still your problem.
What the Home Office is trying to establish
A compliance check is not a hunt for a missing form. It is testing five things:
- That the information you have given is accurate and complete.
- That you are able and intend to offer work that meets the definition of an eligible role.
- That your organisation is what it says it is, and is trading or operating lawfully in the UK.
- That you pose no threat to immigration control and your conduct is conducive to the public good.
- That you are committed to your sponsor duties and are meeting them in practice.
The last one is where most care providers are tested. Being committed and complying in practice are separate tests, and a policy document describing how you meet a duty does not prove you met it.
Where the duties usually bite
Two deadlines account for a large share of the breaches found in care.
Changes affecting a sponsored worker must be reported within ten working days of the event. Changes to your organisation must be reported within twenty working days. Both are counted from the event, not from the point someone in your office notices the event, and a run of late reports is the pattern that turns individual slips into a systematic breach.
The other recurring problem is the gap between what the certificate says and what the payroll shows. Job title, salary, hours and work location all appear on the certificate. If any of them changed quietly after the worker started, the HMRC check finds it.
What happens if they find problems
The response is scaled to what is found. A single late report and a pattern of unreported changes are treated very differently.
| Sanction | What it means |
|---|---|
| Certificate allocation cut | Your allocation is reduced, or set to zero, so you cannot sponsor anyone new |
| Downgrade to B-rating | A paid, time-limited action plan, with no new sponsorship until you regain the A-rating |
| Suspension | You come off the public register while the Home Office investigates |
| Revocation | The licence ends and sponsored workers normally have their permission cancelled |
| Referral | A report to the police or another authority |
Minor breaches that an action plan could fix usually lead to a downgrade. Serious or repeated ones go straight to suspension or revocation. The Home Office also expects you to follow any action plan it sets, and failing one is itself grounds to revoke.
How to be ready before one is announced
Preparation is not a folder. It is the handful of habits an inspector can test on any given day.
- Reconcile certificates against payroll every month. Job title, salary, hours and work location, checked against what the certificate says.
- Log every reportable change on the day it happens, with the ten and twenty working day clocks running from that date.
- Keep right to work checks filed with evidence that the check was properly carried out, rather than a document scan on its own.
- Make sure whoever is on reception knows what to do if an inspector arrives unannounced, and who to call.
- Tell the third party sites your workers attend that a visit could happen there, and confirm they will co-operate.
- Run a mock check once a year, with someone who has not built the system testing it.
Frequently asked questions
- What does a sponsor licence compliance audit entail?
- It can involve a request for documents, verification of what you have already supplied, a site visit, a video interview, checks with other government departments, and consideration of any other evidence including public allegations.
- What to expect during a UKVI compliance check?
- Questions testing whether your information is accurate, whether the role is real, whether you are trading lawfully, and whether you are meeting your sponsor duties in practice. Expect records to be checked against what your certificates say rather than read in isolation.
- What is UKVI compliance?
- Meeting the duties that come with a sponsor licence: reporting changes within the set deadlines, keeping the required records, paying workers what the certificate states, and co-operating with checks.
- What does a compliance visit mean?
- A visit by Home Office staff to a site under your control, announced or unannounced, to check you are meeting your duties. You must allow full access on demand.
- What are the compliance obligations of a sponsor under the sponsor licence?
- Reporting worker changes within ten working days and organisation changes within twenty, keeping the required records, offering only eligible roles on the terms stated, complying with wider UK law, and co-operating fully with any check.
Being ready rather than being lucky
Providers who come through a compliance check cleanly are rarely the ones with the thickest files. They are the ones whose records match their certificates, whose reporting deadlines are met because someone owns them, and who have tested the system before an inspector did.
Lifted keeps sponsorship compliance in order for care providers, with ex-Home Office inspectors checking the things an inspector would check. If you would rather find the gaps than have them found for you, we can tell you where you stand.
About the author
Lifted · Lifted editorial
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