Immigration Law Training on Home Office Audits
If you were told that a Home Office caseworker was at the door for an unannounced compliance visit, would you be ready and confident that your business had the systems and procedures in place to sail through an unexpected audit? Would your key personnel take the visit in their stride or go into full panic mode?
In this blog, our Immigration Solicitors look at what your business can do to protect its sponsor licence and be ready for a Home Office audit.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers
For immigration advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
Could your business be due a Home Office audit?
The Home Office could decide to carry out an audit on an unannounced basis or after giving notice.
Audits can take place:
- When you have a pending application for a sponsor licence
- When the Home Office has noted sponsor licence compliance issues or there are concerns that key personnel are not fulfilling reporting and recording duties
- When other agencies are carrying out investigations and have alerted the Home Office to their inquiries. For example, HMRC or the health and safety executive
- When the business has been fined for non-compliance with right-to-work checks or for failure to adhere to the national minimum wage or working time regulations
- The company is in a perceived high-risk sector or a sector that is the focus of attention by the Home Office. For example, the adult healthcare sector and nursing homes and care homes
- Your sponsor licence has been suspended and your business is subject to a Home Office plan to get back to an A-rating
- A sponsored worker has been flagged as posing an immigration threat or the Home Office is concerned that their sponsored employment is not genuine
Sponsorship Licence Lawyers say that the above list is not exhaustive. The Home Office does not need a reason to carry out a Home Office audit and can choose to carry out a visit even if your business has a ‘clean license.’
Who benefits from Immigration Law Training on Home Office audits?
Whether your business is a London-based start-up in the tech sector, a family firm in the construction or hospitality sectors in the South East or a nationwide company with hundreds of care homes or nursing homes, your company would benefit from Immigration Law Training on Home Office audits.
Who should attend the Legal Training? Our Business Immigration Solicitors suggest:
- SME business owners and senior employees with managerial responsibilities
- Entrepreneurs looking at applying for a sponsor licence so they can harness global talent from overseas
- HR directors and HR staff
- Authorising officers
- Key personnel including level one and level two users
- Administrative staff responsible for system administration
You may not think that you need Immigration Law Training on Home Office audits if you are an HR director responsible for a large HR team or a large company that outsources sponsor licence management to an immigration law firm providing Sponsor Licence Management Services. However, our Sponsorship Licence Lawyers say it is important that however senior your position you understand the scope of the work required by key personnel to manage the sponsor licence effectively and to avoid a compliance visit or how to manage an audit if you are selected for an inspection. With that information, you are in a better position to understand the regulatory and compliance issues and the time needed by staff to meet all their reporting and recording duties and to prepare for a Home Office audit.
The benefits of Immigration Law Training on Home Office audits
Our Business Immigration Solicitors speak to people across the UK about sponsor licences and the recruitment of overseas workers on Skilled Worker Visas, Health and Care Worker Visas and Global Business Mobility Visas. Invariably, whether they are speaking to an experienced HR director or a newly appointed level one user, there is anxiety about the loss of a sponsor licence or worry about how their company would perform in a Home Office audit.
Whether those concerns are well founded or not it isn’t surprising that HR staff and key personnel worry about sponsor licence compliance. Most realise that losing the sponsor licence would not just affect the sponsored workers on Work Visas (who would have their visas curtailed) but would also massively damage the reputation of the company and, in some cases, affect the continued ability of the company to operate in a sector heavily reliant on overseas staff employed on Work Visas.
Our Legal Training not only provides legal and practical tips on how to avoid, prepare for and get through a Home Office audit but it also gives key personnel and HR staff the confidence to know when their systems and procedures are well thought out and tips on tweaks to make their jobs a bit easier or to make a Home Office audit less stressful.
To find out more about our immigration services, please call us or email us to sign up for our mailing list for upcoming Immigration Law Training.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers
For immigration advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
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