Sponsor License Compliance & Appeals Solicitors

Suspension

The Home Office may suspend your sponsor licence if they have concerns that you have not complied with your sponsor duties. You will be required to respond to the Home Office’s allegations within 20 working days. If the Home Office are not satisfied with the response, your sponsor licence will be revoked. Consequently, you will no longer be permitted to sponsor your current sponsored workers.

Our solicitors can assist with your response to the Home Office. With our extensive experience successfully responding to suspensions, we know that it is crucial that the response is comprehensive and most importantly, demonstrates that you will maintain compliance with your sponsor duties in the future.

Revocation

The Home Office may revoke your sponsor licence immediately if they are satisfied that you have committed a serious breach of your sponsor duties or if your sponsor licence was suspended and their initial concerns were not alleviated. Following the revocation, sponsored workers may find it difficult to continue their roles.

Our solicitors can assist with challenging your sponsor licence revocation. With our extensive experience successfully challenging sponsor licence revocations, we know that it is crucial to act quickly, analyse the allegations (as the Home Office can make errors) and submit detailed, robust and comprehensive representations, along with supporting evidence.

Mock audits

Sponsor compliance is best managed proactively rather than reactively. We assist our clients with mock audits, which includes reviewing HR systems, policies and procedures to ensure ongoing compliance. If there is an issue, we identify it before it becomes critical, provide solutions and advise on best practice going forward.

The sponsor should take immediate action to correct any issues identified by the UKVI and approach the suspension in a structured way:

• Read the suspension notice carefully - this will identify each alleged breach and tell you what you need to address and correct when responding to the UKVI.
• Prepare and submit a comprehensive written response to the UKVI within 20 working days, addressing every allegation, with relevant evidence.
• Rectify internal compliance issues immediately and show improved HR/sponsor compliance systems and how you intend to maintain compliance going forward.

The outcome will depend on the response to the suspension notice:

• If the Home Office accepts your response, your licence will be reinstated and business resumes.
• If your licence is downgraded, you may be placed on an action plan, during which you cannot sponsor new workers until improvements are made.
• If the UKVI concerns remain unresolved, your licence may be revoked which will result in the following:
  • Leave of your sponsored workers will be curtailed
  • No right of appeal
  • A 12-month cooling off period before being able to apply for a new licence.

Businesses found to be non-compliant also risk damaging their reputation, both with regulators and within their industry, potentially affecting their ability to attract talented workers and work with partners.

Sponsors should consider seeking legal assistance to advise and assist with responding to the UKVI. At Irwin Mitchell, we can assist with reviewing the Home Office suspension notice, identifying Home Office errors, and preparing and providing a comprehensive and robust response.