What happens when a sponsor licence is suspended or revoked

Losing a sponsor licence is the outcome every care provider plans around and few plan for. It rarely arrives without warning, there are two stages before it, and knowing what each one means buys you the time to act while acting still counts for something.

Here is what the Home Office can do, what each step means for your workers, and what you can do at each stage.

The three things the Home Office can do

Enforcement runs in stages rather than landing all at once. The route taken depends on how serious the breach is.

Serious cases skip straight to suspension or revocation. The Home Office will consider a downgrade first only where the breach is minor enough that an action plan would fix it.

What a downgrade means

A downgrade moves you from an A-rating to a B-rating. It is used where the Home Office believes you lack the processes to meet your duties, or where you have not handed over information you held when asked for it.

You then work through a time-limited action plan, which you pay a fee for, and you cannot sponsor anyone new until you have earned the A-rating back. You also lose the ability to replace your Authorising Officer or Key Contact and add Level 1 users without approval, where you had that. Fail the action plan and the licence is revoked.

A downgrade is the warning shot. Treat it as the last comfortable moment to fix things properly.

What suspension means

Suspension is an investigation, not a verdict. It happens where the Home Office believes you are breaching your duties, that you pose a threat to immigration control, or that your conduct is not conducive to the public good.

While it lasts, three things are true. You cannot assign any certificates of sponsorship. Your entry comes off the public register of sponsors, so anyone checking sees you are no longer listed. And you must carry on meeting every sponsor duty exactly as before, which catches people out because it feels as though the obligations are paused when they are not.

The workers you already sponsor are unaffected during a suspension. Their permission stands unless the licence is revoked.

If the Home Office decides against revoking, the suspension lifts and your entry goes back on the register.

What revocation means

Revocation ends the licence across every route you hold. You cannot sponsor anyone else, your details come off the public register, and the Home Office will normally cancel the permission of the workers you are currently sponsoring.

There is no right of appeal. You are told in writing, and the decision stands.

Why licences get revoked

The grounds are set out in the sponsor guidance. A licence can be revoked where:

• You stop having, or never had, a real trading presence.
• You stop meeting the requirements of the route you are licensed for.
• There is a serious or systematic breach of your sponsor duties.
• You pose a threat to immigration control.
• You are convicted of a relevant criminal offence or issued with a specified civil penalty.
• Your conduct is judged not conducive to the public good.

For care providers the one that bites is the third. Serious or systematic breach covers record keeping, reporting changes on time, right to work checks and paying workers what the certificate says. Individually these look like paperwork. Together they are the pattern the Home Office treats as systematic.

What happens to your sponsored workers

During a suspension, nothing. Workers with valid permission carry on as normal.

After revocation, the Home Office will normally cancel their permission, and how much time a worker gets depends on whether they were involved in what went wrong. A worker who was not knowingly involved normally has their permission shortened to 60 calendar days, which is the window to find a new sponsor, apply under a different route, or leave. A worker who was knowingly involved has all remaining permission cancelled and has to leave straight away. The Home Office contacts them directly either way. For a care home this is the part that stops being a compliance problem and becomes an operational one, because the staff you lose are the staff on your rota next week.

If you sponsor fifteen people and lose the licence, plan for fifteen vacancies rather than fifteen appeals.

How long before you can apply again

At least twelve months from the date of revocation. If your licence has been revoked more than once, the wait is at least twenty-four months.

A fresh application after that is not a formality. You are applying as an organisation with a revocation on record, and the Home Office will want to see what has changed.

Is there a list of revoked sponsor licences?

Not as such, and this is where a lot of searching goes wrong. The Home Office publishes a register of licensed sponsors, which lists organisations that currently hold a licence. It does not publish a separate list of revoked ones.

The practical effect is the same. An organisation whose licence is suspended or revoked comes off the register, so the way to check is to look for the employer on the register of licensed sponsors. If they are not there, they cannot sponsor. Checking the register is also the quickest way to confirm your own status if you have had a letter and want to see whether it has taken effect.

What to do when a letter arrives

Whether it is a downgrade, a suspension or a revocation, the first hours matter more than the following weeks. See our urgent support.

• Read what it alleges, rather than what you assume it alleges. The grounds determine your options.
• Keep meeting every sponsor duty. A suspension does not pause them, and a further breach during an investigation removes any room you had.
• Gather the evidence that answers the specific allegation, rather than sending everything you hold.
• Get specialist advice before you reply. There is no appeal after revocation, so the response to a suspension is usually the last chance to influence the outcome.
• Tell your workers what is happening. They will find out when they come off the register, and hearing it from you first is better for everyone.

Frequently asked questions

What happens when your sponsor licence is revoked?

The licence ends across all routes, you come off the public register, you cannot sponsor anyone new, and the Home Office will normally cancel the permission of the workers you sponsor. A worker who was not knowingly involved in the reasons for revocation normally gets 60 calendar days to find a new sponsor, switch route or leave. There is no right of appeal.

Why would a company lose their sponsorship licence?

Losing a trading presence, no longer meeting the route requirements, a serious or systematic breach of sponsor duties, posing a threat to immigration control, a relevant criminal conviction or civil penalty, or conduct not conducive to the public good.

Can a revoked sponsor licence be reinstated?

A revocation is final and carries no right of appeal. You can apply for a new licence once the cooling-off period has passed, which is at least twelve months, or twenty-four months if you have been revoked more than once. A suspension is different and can be lifted.

How do I know if my sponsor licence has been revoked?

The Home Office writes to you. You can also check the public register of licensed sponsors, since organisations that have been suspended or revoked are removed from it.

Is there a list of revoked sponsor licences in the UK?

The Home Office publishes no separate list. The register of licensed sponsors shows who currently holds a licence, so an employer missing from it cannot sponsor.

Staying off the list in the first place

Almost every revocation in care traces back to the same few duties done inconsistently rather than one dramatic failure. Records that do not match the certificate, changes reported late, right to work checks filed without being properly run.

Lifted keeps sponsorship compliance in order for care providers, with ex-Home Office inspectors checking the things an inspector would check. If you have had a letter, or want to know how you would hold up if one arrived, we can tell you where you stand.