Applying for a Sponsor Licence for your Care Home

If you own a care home or nursing home recruiting and retaining suitable staff is nothing short of impossible unless you have a sponsor licence that allows you to tap into global healthcare talent through sponsoring overseas care workers on Health and Care Worker Visas.

In this article, our Immigration Solicitors take you through what is involved in applying for a sponsor licence for your care home.

UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers

For sponsor licence application and management advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.

Why your care home could benefit from a sponsor licence 

Many care home or nursing home owners question if their business would benefit from a sponsor licence as they still think that the healthcare sector cannot recruit carers from overseas as the work is not sufficiently ‘’skilled’’ to qualify for a Skilled Worker Visa. Whilst many care home residents would say that their carers are all highly skilled in the art of caring, the UK immigration rules do allow carers and senior carers to apply for UK Work Visas via a specialist visa scheme.

The process of recruiting overseas care workers can be a bit confusing as your care home or nursing home will need a sponsor licence to sponsor Skilled Worker Visa applicants. A quick look at the eligibility criteria for the Skilled Worker Visa rules it out as a visa route for most overseas-based carers but the specialist Health and Care Worker Visa forms part of the Skilled Worker Visa route.

The Health and Care Worker visa

For care homes and nursing homes, the Skilled Worker Visa sponsor licence allows you to sponsor overseas workers to work for your business on the Health and Care Worker Visa.

This visa route was opened in 2020 but initially, many care home and nursing home businesses assumed it was for the exclusive benefit of NHS trusts or that the visa would only assist if they wanted to recruit a doctor or qualified nurse. However, the visa also helps adult social care providers. If your recruitment needs can be met by employing workers on the Health and Care Worker Visa rather than the Skilled Worker Visa this helps through:

• Faster Home Office processing of Health and Care Worker Visa applications
• Reduced Health and Care Worker Visa application fees and recruits do not need to pay the immigration health surcharge

Potentially the Health and Care Worker Visa could help provide partial long-term recruitment solutions provided you have staff retention policies in place. That’s because the Health and Care Worker Visa allows sponsored employees to work in the UK for 5 years and when they meet the indefinite leave to remain residence requirement of 5 years of lawful and continuous residence they can then apply to settle in the UK.

Will your healthcare sector business qualify for a skilled worker sponsor licence?

On 19 February 2024, the government will publish a Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules. The changes will mean that your care home or nursing home business can only sponsor workers if the business is undertaking activities regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The statement will also remove the right for care workers and senior carers to bring dependants with them to the UK. This change will come into force on 11 March 2024.

Other than this new requirement for the healthcare sector, the eligibility criteria to apply for a sponsor licence are standard in nature and there are no other specific healthcare sector criteria.

The general eligibility criteria to apply for a sponsor licence are:

• Your business is a genuine organisation operating lawfully in the UK
• You are honest, dependable and reliable
• The business has appropriate HR systems in place to monitor sponsored employees and manage the licence
• You have an authorising officer appointed as part of your key personnel to manage the sponsor licence
• The business has genuine vacancies for sponsored workers in eligible roles that meet the visa rate of pay and skill level

There is no minimum business size or operating period to qualify to apply for a sponsor licence.

Help with your sponsor licence application

If you are put off from applying for a sponsor licence because you know your systems are not great because you are so busy firefighting matters such as staff absences or recruitment then our Sponsorship Licence lawyers can help you with:

1. Pre-application advice on the systems you need to put in place or adjustments required to your current systems
2. Advice on HR file management and conduct of right-to-work checks
3. Advice on the choice of key personnel to manage the sponsor licence
4. Key personnel licence training specific to your care home or nursing home requirements
5. Advice on documents needed to support your sponsor licence application
6. Preparing and submitting your sponsor licence application
7. Advice on certificate of sponsorship allocation
8. Ongoing sponsor licence management services

For sponsor licence application and management advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.

It is important to get help with your sponsor licence application as if you try it alone there may be delays in getting your licence and added recruitment pressures. In addition, if you apply and the application is refused you may be subject to a 6-month cooling off period during which time you cannot apply for a licence.

The sponsor licence application

The key to a successful sponsor licence application is to put the work in before you submit your application online. That normally means ensuring your systems are robust and your key personnel staff have had the training they will need to manage the licence.

The application is then submitted online with the supporting paperwork and application fee. The documents needed and the size of the fee depends on the size of your business.

The application fee is currently £536 for small or charitable sponsors and £1,476 for medium or large sponsors. Our Sponsorship Licence lawyers will be able to tell you which band you fall within.

The application will then be processed by Home Office officials. The timescale will depend on:

1. Whether you have sent all necessary paperwork
2. If you decide to pay the Home Office extra for a priority processing service
3. If the Home Office decide that they need to conduct an onsite compliance visit before they decide whether to give you a sponsor licence

Our Sponsorship Licence lawyers can help identify all the documents you need to submit and talk you through whether the additional priority service fees are justifiable for your business. If the Home Office tells you that they will be carrying out a compliance visit we can also make sure that you are ready for it and know what to expect.

Next steps when your sponsor licence is granted

Once your sponsor licence is approved you can start your recruitment of overseas-based workers on Health and Care Worker Visas.

Initially, it is best to get Sponsorship Licence lawyers involved in the recruitment process so that they:

1. Advise on job descriptions to meet the available Health and Care Worker Visa roles
2. Advise on the minimum salary threshold for the job
3. Provide advice on any changes needed to standard carer contracts of employment or to your HR policies on say reporting absences or on discrimination in the workplace etc
4. Assist you in understanding the certificate of sponsorship allocation process and advise on the difference between recruiting an overseas worker already in the UK or one applying for a visa from outside the UK
5. Helping if there are queries with the Health and Care Worker Visa application process
6. Advice on when and how to conduct the right-to-work check
7. Advice on SMS reporting and the new sponsored employee

UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers

For sponsor licence application and management advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.

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