Pitfalls and Solutions for Sponsor Licence Holders
In this blog, our Immigration Solicitors run through some of the common problems UK business owners encounter when they have a sponsor licence and how you can solve them.
At OTS Solicitors our award-winning Business Immigration Lawyers specialise in providing Sponsor Licence Management Services and can answer all your licence management questions and can provide you with Immigration Law Training tailored to your business needs.
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.
Key personnel – who does what
The key personnel for your sponsor licence are not anyone in the HR team or the management team. You need to appoint a key contact, authorising officer and level one user. They are named individuals. You can then appoint additional level one users and level two users if you need to do so. For example, because of the workload associated with your sponsor licence management.
What you must not do is have a shared SMS log-in so whoever is in the office can sort out the sponsor licence admin. The key personnel role is personal to the person selected and cannot be shared in this way - even if your team work well together. Nor can you share log-in details if your level one user is off on their holiday, on maternity leave or on an overseas secondment. The level one user needs to be UK-based and must be doing the job themselves rather than allowing team members access to their SMS login.
Key personnel leaving
Key personnel will leave your employment for a variety of reasons. For example, they may leave to further their career elsewhere or they may go off on extended sick leave. Our Sponsorship Licence Lawyers find that is often where the sponsor licence problem started, mushroomed over time and eventually led to a Home Office audit.
Whilst you are recruiting to replace the member of staff who was your level one user it can be easy to let compliance things slide so, for example, sponsored employees' changes of address are not recorded on the SMS or job promotions or sideway moves for Skilled Worker Visa holders are not checked against the standard occupational classification code to see if the new role still fits with their authorised job description.
When a new member of the HR team is recruited and they are told that they will be the firm’s level one user, Business Immigration Solicitors commonly find:
- There was no thorough assessment to check if the recruit would be a suitable level one user as the recruitment process concentrated on other areas, such as their experience in office administration
- It was assumed that the induction process and a read-through of the Home Office guidance would be sufficient training for the new level one user
- There was no ongoing Legal Immigration Training provided for the person recruited as the new level one user so they ‘muddled through’ when unsure - resulting in non-compliance issues
- A new level one user did not understand firm compliance or reporting systems because they were different to previous practices or because immigration rules have changed resulting in new processes
- The level one user had too much on their plate so did not comply with reporting time limits on the SMS thinking that a few days of delay would not matter or they were too concerned about passing their probationary period to report to their manager that they were not coping with the sponsor licence management workload
- Level one users are not given the information they need to report. For example, an employee on a Skilled Worker Visa reports a change of address to their line manager who does not pass it on to the level one user or the firm changes head office as a paper exercise without thinking through the implications for sponsor licence reporting or compliance
Many of the issues that lead to Home Office audits and ultimately the suspension or revocation of your sponsor licence could be avoided by either using a professional Sponsor Licence Management Service or providing your key personnel with the support they need.
As Business Immigration Solicitors we are lawyers, not accountants, but we know that it is cheaper to fix things before you have a massive problem rather than let things slide. For example, providing the Legal Training that a new level one user needs can be a lot cheaper than representation in a judicial review application to challenge the Home Office's decision to revoke your sponsor licence.
It won't happen to us
Time and again businesses think that it won't ‘happen to us.’ That may be because they are not in a high-risk sector for Home Office compliance and monitoring. With the news that the Labour government is focusing on nail bars and illegal working, other businesses can be led into a false sense of security thinking that the Home Office will only go after car wash businesses or barbers or sectors of the economy known to have issues. That sense of complacency can lead to a massive shock if the Home Office turns up at your door for an unannounced visit.
The assumption that your firm is too small or big to come to the attention of a Home Office official or that your care home or nursing home is too vital to the local authority or NHS for the Home Office to revoke its sponsor licence is also misconceived. Three recent court applications by sponsor licence holders to challenge the Home Office's decisions to revoke sponsor licences have all involved care homes or nursing homes, despite the facilities being needed to avoid NHS bed blocking.
From it won't happen to us comes the line of thought that if there is a compliance issue it won't be serious or you can talk your way out of it. That can be just as dangerous as assuming the Home Office won't be interested in your business and its compliance record.
Our Sponsorship Licence Lawyers recommend that as soon as you get any inkling that there is a sponsor licence problem you speak to us to get our assessment of the issue and advice on the steps you need to take to preserve your sponsor licence. In an ideal world, the compliance issue would not have got that far as with ongoing Legal Training or our carrying out mock audits the problems would have been spotted and nipped in the bud before it got as far as Home Office involvement.
Immigration law assistance
Our Sponsorship Licence Lawyers understand the need for flexible immigration law assistance ranging from pre-application sponsor licence checks to ensure your business is ready to make its first sponsor licence application to providing a rolls Royce Sponsor Licence Management Service to take much of the hassle out of sponsoring overseas workers. The middle ground of working with HR staff through mock audits and providing Immigration Law Training through mock audits and training (at your premises or online, through Zoom or webinar) can also work well for your business.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers
For sponsor licence and immigration advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
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