As a Home Office approved sponsor license holder, to ensure that you can continue to recruit staff from outside of the European Economic Area (and from 2021, from anywhere outside of the UK), it is vital that you continue to remain compliant with your duties and responsibilities. You should expect and be prepared to receive a compliance visit, from the Home Office, whether this is announced or unannounced, at any time. Home Office compliance officers may arrive at any of your premises without notice and ask to see evidence that you are adhering to the requirements you agreed to maintain as a sponsor license holder. In this article, we will provide an immigration compliance checklist to allow you to prepare for a Home Office audit. This can then be used to carry out your own periodic checks within your business.
What Is The Role Of A Home Office Compliance Officer?
Before we list the items you should check to ensure your compliance as a sponsor license holder, it is useful to understand the role of a compliance officer.
Home Office compliance officers are tasked with assessing:
- that a licensed sponsor is meeting their sponsorship obligations
- that a prospective sponsor has the necessary systems and procedures in place to meet their sponsorship obligations
- the accuracy of information given on the sponsor licence application
- whether the sponsor is complying with their obligations to prevent illegal working
There are two types of audit/visit carried out; one is the pre-license audit, which is to ensure that your business is ready to take on a sponsor license; the second is the post-license audit which is about making sure businesses with sponsor licenses are continuing to adhere to their duties.
During a visit, an office will typically carry out the following checks:
- migrant file checks – to ensure these are up to date and contain all of the information they should
- right to work checks – to ensure that the necessary right to work checks have been completed and information retained
- migrant interviews – compliance officers will interview some of your sponsored workers
Compliance Audit Checklist
There are a wide range of checks which a compliance officer may carry out. When assessing your readiness and compliance, you should ask the following questions of your business (please note this list is not exhaustive):
- Are your HR policies and procedures covering the sponsorship of overseas workers up to date and easily accessible?
- Was the information provided when you applied for a sponsor license still correct?
- Are the Key Contact, Authorising Officer, and Key Users listed on the SMS current and correct?
- Do you have a system for recording the details of staff contact information? Is the information and documentation you hold all up to date and easily accessible? Is this information consistent across all systems?
- Are all of the personal, contact, address, and role details for each sponsored member of staff correct on the SMS?
- Have you carried out Right to Work checks for all personnel (i.e. not just sponsored staff). Copies of these must be kept and be signed and dated.
- Are all of the vacancies filled by a sponsored worker genuine?
- Do you have all of the necessary documents for each sponsored member of staff – including a copy of their BRP, passport, and professional registration documents?
- When issuing new CoSs have you kept within your cap?
- Have you reported any changes in circumstances to the Home Office, including where a member of staff has left your organisation, they did not arrive for their first day, they have had a prolonged absence, or their role and salary have changed. You also need to report any changes to your business, including if you have added new locations where sponsored staff will be working, or you have merged with another company. You are required to report this information within a set timeframe (typically within ten days).
- Are all of the jobs which have been given to sponsored migrant workers at degree level or higher (RQF6) unless there is a skill level exemption? From 2021, this will be A-Level or higher (RQF3)
- Are all sponsored members of staff receiving at least the minimum or appropriate salary for the role (bearing in mind this may differ depending on if they are a new starter or experienced in the profession)?
- Have the right types of Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) been issued? Unrestricted CoSs can only be granted where the employee is:
- a newly hired migrant coming from overseas who will be earning £159,600 or more a year
- already in the UK with valid leave under Tier 2 (General)
- already in the UK under another immigration category, with valid leave, and is
- entitled to switch into Tier 2 (General) - this excludes a dependent of a Tier 4
- migrant earning less than £159,600 who would need a restricted CoS
- Have Resident Labour Market Tests (RLMTs) been carried out where necessary?
- Are your staff prepared for a Home Office visit?
If you are unsure if you are keeping the documents you are required to as a licensed sponsor, you should refer to Appendix D: Keeping documents – guidance for sponsors, which outlines your obligations, including which documents to retain and how long for.
Final Words
In our experience, many businesses are unprepared for a Home Office compliance visit, perhaps because they have become complacent due to not being audited for some time. Do not be lulled into a false sense of security. The longer you leave your processes and procedures unchecked, the greater the potential for errors and problems to arise. Home Office compliance officers are adept at finding even minor inconsistencies, and can, as a result, suspend, revoke, or downgrade your license. Consider carrying out mock audits on a periodic basis to ensure your business is always ready for a compliance visit. By engaging a third-party to do this for you (e.g. by an immigration Solicitor), you can ensure that problems are spotted and recommendations for their resolution provided.
