Sponsorship Compliance in Health and Social Care: What Employers Need to Know
- Jasmyn Care Ltd
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 8 hours ago
The UK health and social care sector relies heavily on international recruitment — but with the Home Office intensifying enforcement, sponsor licence compliance has become a critical risk area for providers.
Over 2,000 sponsor licences were revoked between July 2024–June 2025, many from care organisations that failed to meet their duties.
For care organisations, the message is clear: non‑compliance now carries immediate and severe consequences — including licence suspension, civil penalties, and the loss of your sponsored workforce.
This guide explains what employers must know in 2026 to stay compliant, avoid enforcement action, and protect their workforce.
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What Is a Sponsor Licence?
A sponsor licence is a type of permission granted by the UK Home Office allowing organisations to employ workers from abroad.
Care providers wishing to recruit international doctors, nurses, social workers, paramedics, care workers, support workers, or healthcare assistants, require this type of licence.
Holding one comes with various ongoing legal responsibilities and compliance obligations such as assigning a Fit and Proper Authorising Officer, Key Contact, and Level 1 User in the Sponsorship Management System and demonstrating strong HR systems as part of the application to the Home Office.
Requirements To Obtain A Sponsor Licence
1. CQC Registration
To be eligible for sponsorship, employers must actively undertake a "regulated activity" and maintain a valid Care Quality Commission (CQC) registration. If before, during or after acquiring sponsorship your CQC registration is suspended or downgraded, your sponsor licence will likely follow.
2. Genuine Existence of a Role
To pass Home Office compliance audit, you must prove that the sponsored position actively exist or will exist at the exact moment the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) is granted, and there is a sustainable funding to pay the worker. The sponsored worker must perform the exact duties and responsibilities described on the CoS.
3. In-Country Sourcing
Following strict policy limits, new overseas applications for care workers have been halted. You can now only sponsor care workers who are already legally in the UK and looking to switch employers or extend their stay. The worker must have legally worked for you for at least 3 months prior to assigning a CoS.
4. Financial Responsibilities
Sponsorship licences come with a fee. As at May 2026:
Licence fee cost: £574 (small sponsors) or £1,579 (medium/large). A small sponsor is one that satisfies at least two of the following conditions
an annual turnover of no more than £15 million
a total asset of no more than £7.5 million, or
a workforce of 50 or fewer staff.
Certificate of Sponsorship cost: £525 per worker for each time CoS is assigned
Immigration Skills Charge cost: £480 per annum for small sponsors including charities £1,579 for medium to large sponsors. An Immigration Skills Charge is a mandatory fee that UK employers must pay to the Home Office when sponsoring an overseas worker under the Skilled Worker or Global Business Mobility (Senior or Specialist Worker) routes.
Priority cost £300 for those looking for a decision to be made within a week.
Home Office made it explicitly clear that these charges cannot be passed on to the sponsored worker - it is against the law.
Ongoing Sponsor Licence Maintenance
1. Pay-Period Salary Tracking (New Rules)
Salaries are now tracked as part of the new compliance rule. Previously, tracking was conducted annually, but it is now done on a sponsored worker's salary per individual pay period (e.g., monthly or weekly). This tracking is as a result of direct data-sharing links with HMRC.
Any discrepancy between the salary declared on the Sponsor Management System (SMS) and the actual wages paid through your payroll will trigger an immediate compliance flag. If a care worker's hours drop in a specific month, causing their earnings to fall below the pro-rata minimum salary threshold required for their SOC code, you are immediately non-compliant.
2. The Workers' Rights Mandate
Employers are now legally required to inform all sponsored workers of their UK employment rights. Evidence of this, whether physical or digital—such as a signed onboarding document, policy acknowledgement form, or formal written communication— must be recorded and made available when required. Gaps in documentation can lead to an instant penalty.
What to include and document for workers include:
Entitlement to the National Minimum Wage and Working Time Regulations.
Pension auto-enrolment and clear information on opt-outs.
Explicit breakdowns of statutory leave, sick pay, holiday pay, and maternity/paternity rights.
Formal written guidance on health and safety policies, grievance procedures, and the explicit right to join trade unions.
Compliance Tip: To satisfy an inspector, you must keep hard proof on file, such as signed employee acknowledgements in updated staff handbooks, tailored employment contracts, or documented internal training/awareness courses.
3. Right-to-Work Checks
All workers engaged by an employer, including independent contractors, bank staff, and unsponsored individuals must go through a rigorous right-to-work check. Failure to comply can lead to penalties.
4. SMS Reporting and Record Keeping
Employers must record any operational change that occur in the workplace on the Home Office Sponsor Management System (SMS) within 10 working days. Acknoledge changes include:
Absences & Attendance: Unexplained absences, long-term sick leave, or maternity leave.
Role/Location Changes: Promotions, changing a worker's primary care location, or adjusting job responsibilities.
Contact Information: Keeping the current address and telephone details of every sponsored worker perfectly up to date.
The "Reasonable Suspicion" Clause
Historically, a care provider’s licence was relatively secure unless an official investigation uncovered hard, irrefutable proof of a breach. The updated guidance significantly lowers the legal bar for enforcement action.
The Discretionary Power: The Home Office explicitly states that holding a licence is a privilege, not a right. They now retain the power to refuse, suspend, or revoke a licence based on "reasonable suspicion" alone that a sponsor is unsuitable or likely to breach guidance, without needing to wait for proven breaches.
Preparing for Home Office Unannounced Compliance Visits
Unannounced inspections are now common in the care sector. Employers must be ready to demonstrate:
Up‑to‑date HR files
Accurate rotas and timesheets
Evidence of salary compliance per pay period
Worker contact details and proof of address
Clear escalation processes for safeguarding and absence
A provider who cannot produce documents immediately is treated as non‑compliant.
Why Care Providers Are Losing Their Licences
The most common reasons include:
Underpayment due to fluctuating hours
Incorrect job roles or SOC codes
Missing right‑to‑work documentation
Failure to report changes within 10 working days
Poor record‑keeping
Sponsoring workers who are not genuinely needed
These issues are widespread — and avoidable.
What Employers Should Do Now
To protect your licence:
Conduct a full internal compliance audit
Review all sponsored worker files
Ensure pay‑period salary tracking is accurate
Update HR systems to meet 2026 standards
Train managers on sponsorship duties
Work only with recruitment partners who understand compliance
If you lose your licence, you lose your workforce — and your service becomes immediately unsafe.
Safeguarding Your Care Facility with JasmynCare
The administrative burden of reading thousands of pages of evolving sponsor guidance, conducting internal mock audits, and tracking fluctuating hourly pay scales is an exhausting challenge for busy care managers.
Jasmyn Care supports employers with:
Audit‑ready workforce files
Fully compliant recruitment processes
Digital documentation and tracking
Workers who meet Home Office and CQC expectations
Rota stability to maintain salary and hour requirements
Guidance on SMS reporting and licence management.
Protect your licence. Stabilize your rota. Don't wait for a surprise Home Office or CQC audit notice to identify hidden gaps in your workforce framework.
Visit our Workforce Solutions Page or speak directly with our strategic compliance team today on 0203 432 1942 to secure a compliant staffing partnership.
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