Sponsor Licence & HR Compliance Support
The Home Office may conduct announced or unannounced compliance visits to assess whether a sponsor is meeting its duties. Our compliance review audits your entire sponsorship position — worker files, SMS records, reporting duties, and right-to-work checks — and gives you a written report and action plan before a visit happens.
Sponsor licence holders are required to comply with a broad range of duties throughout the period of their licence. Failure to do so can result in a downgrade from A-rating to B-rating, suspension, or full revocation of your licence — which can have an immediate impact on your ability to employ sponsored workers and on the immigration status of workers already in the UK. Our review is structured around the areas examined by UKVI during sponsor compliance activity and is designed to surface issues before a Home Office visit.
A full audit across every area of your compliance obligations, not just a surface-level check.
We review the personnel files for each sponsored worker to check that all required documents are held and up to date. This includes right-to-work documentation, copies of passports and visa endorsements, contact details, employment contracts, job descriptions, and salary information — all of which the Home Office expects to see during a compliance visit.
We audit your SMS records to ensure they accurately reflect your sponsored workforce. We check that all active sponsored workers are correctly listed, that CoS records are accurate, and that any changes to employment — such as salary increases, role changes, or absences — have been reported within the required 10 working day window.
We review your right-to-work checking procedures across your workforce — not just sponsored workers. From 1 October 2026, the statutory regime extends beyond conventional employees to relevant workers and certain individual subcontractors. Genuine business-to-business arrangements do not automatically fall within the scheme. We check that the correct people and arrangements are identified, checks are carried out correctly, follow-up checks are diarised and records are stored appropriately.
Sponsors have strict obligations to report certain events through the SMS within 10 working days — including a worker not turning up for their first day, changes to salary or working hours, unauthorised absences, and changes to employment that were not specified on the original CoS. We check your records against these duties and identify any missed reports.
The Home Office expects sponsors to maintain clear, organised records for all sponsored workers for at least two years after sponsorship ends. We assess how your records are maintained — whether electronically or in hard copy — and advise on improvements to meet Home Office expectations.
Following the audit, we produce a written risk report which sets out our findings against each compliance duty. Risks are classified by severity — highlighting areas that would be likely to result in action by the Home Office — so you can prioritise remediation effectively.
Where the audit identifies issues, we provide a corrective action plan setting out exactly what needs to be done, by whom, and within what timeframe. For serious issues, we advise on whether to make a voluntary report to the Home Office and assist with drafting any communications to the Home Office.
If you have already received a Home Office compliance visit and are awaiting the outcome, or if your licence has been suspended, we can step in immediately. We assist with responding to Home Office correspondence, preparing action plans, and making representations in support of licence reinstatement.
Arrange a review
We can usually complete a compliance review within two weeks of instruction. Contact us to discuss your needs and agree a scope.
Contact us directly
General enquiries
info@visaprofessionals.comSpeak to Irfan directly
irfan@visaprofessionals.comPhone
0203 137 8699