Skilled Worker - News 2025
Change made:
The guidance has been revised to align with the commitment made in the Written Ministerial Statement on 28 November 2024, which prohibits the transfer of Skilled Worker Sponsor License or Certificate of Sponsorship fees to sponsored workers by the end of 2024.
Sponsors can face a criminal penalty or licence revocation if found to charge skilled workers a sponsorship fee.
Sponsor Licence – Compliance News 2025
The Home Office has a responsibility to ensure that all sponsors fulfil their obligations. Compliance actions will be taken if a sponsor is deemed to have failed in this regard or poses a risk to immigration control. Part 3: Sponsor duties and compliance contains detailed guidance on your duties as a licensed sponsor and the compliance action we can take if you fail to meet that duty.
Details of the changes are set out below. Paragraph numbers in brackets refer to the previous version of this guidance where the paragraph number was different:
- L1.7 to L1.10: new paragraphs clarifying that sponsor licences must not be used to sponsor workers in a personal capacity; subsequent paragraphs in this section are renumbered accordingly
The law under L1.7 to L1.10 means:
A license will not be granted to an organisation that plans to sponsor workers in a personal capacity under the following conditions:
If, you are an individual or household seeking to hire or engage a worker, or workers, for personal reasons and are not otherwise operating a business or providing a service in the UK and or
If, The worker, or workers, will be employed by or engaged for the personal benefit of someone who works for your organization, or a close relative or partner of that individual, and the role does not relate to your organization’s broader activities.
- L1.15 (L1.11): definition of ‘International Agreement’, minor correction to the maximum period a private servant in a diplomatic household can stay in the UK
The law under L1.15 (L1.11) means:
Within the International Agreement: This information is intended for individuals looking to come to the UK to offer services recognized under international law. This includes private servants in diplomatic households or employees of foreign governments and international organizations. Workers sponsored through this route may stay in the UK for a maximum of two years, or up to five years cumulatively if they are private servants in a diplomatic household.
- L4.26: sponsors must not nominate Key Personnel who are prohibited from being a company director (for any reason, including bankruptcy), unless a court has given permission for that individual to act as a director or to promote or form a business and acting as Key Personnel would not contravene that permission.
The law under L4.26 means:
The Home Office will consistently conduct checks on any Key Personnel you designate, and may also review others who fall under the general definition of ‘you’ or ‘your’. This includes checks against our records and the Police National Computer (PNC) database. We will perform these checks when assessing your sponsor licence application and may repeat them at any point while you hold a sponsor licence. Additionally, checks will be conducted if new individuals are nominated for these positions. The results of these checks may influence our decision regarding your application or the status of your current licence.
- L4.46: new sponsors must have at least Level 1 User who, in their own right meets the following requirements: (a) is an employee, a partner or a director within the sponsoring organisation; and (b) is a settled worker
The law under L4.46 means:
If you submit your sponsor license application on or after December 31, 2024, you are required to nominate at least one Level 1 User (commonly known as your ‘primary’ Level 1 User) who fulfils both of the following criteria:
They must be an employee, director, or partner within your organization.
They must qualify as a ‘settled worker,’ as outlined in section S1 of Part 2: Sponsor a worker (unless one of the exceptions listed below applies).
If you do not designate a Level 1 User who fulfils both of these criteria, we will have to decline your application.
If you receive a license, it is essential to have at least one Level 1 User in place for the duration of your license, who meets the specified requirements. Failure to do so will result in the Home Office revoking your license. The sole exception to this rule is during administration, where an insolvency practitioner may assume this role. For more details, refer to section C3.of Part 3: Sponsor Duties and compliance
The law under L4.67 means:
- L4.67: Government Authorised Exchange sponsors are advised they should no longer appoint Level 2 Users from host employers, as such users will not be given access to the new sponsorship service (Sponsor UK).
If you fail to nominate a Level 1 User who meets both of these requirements, the Home Office will refuse your application.
- L6.17: new paragraph added – this expressly prohibits Skilled Worker sponsors from passing on the cost of the sponsor licence fee or associated administrative costs from 31 December 2024 or the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) fee (for CoS assigned on or after 31 December 2024)
The law under L6.17 means:
The Sponsoring Organisation are responsible for paying the sponsorship fees listed above. The Home Office will normally revoke your licence if you recoup, or attempt to recoup, by any means, the following fees from a worker you are sponsoring:
The Skilled Worker sponsor licence fee (including the fee for adding that route to your existing licence) and any associated administrative costs (including premium services) where you recoup, or attempt to recoup, that fee or those costs on or after 31 December 2024
The Certificate of Sponsorship fee for a Skilled Worker, where that Certificate was assigned on or after 31 December 2024
The Immigration Skills Charge for a Skilled Worker or a Senior or Specialist Worker, where you are required to pay this.
- L7 introductory text, L7.1: clarification that the requirement to send supporting evidence applies to requests to add routes to a licence as well as to new sponsor licence applications
The law under L7.1 means:
Over time, the Home Office will start to make more checks online and we are gradually updating Appendix A to show where the Home Office will make an online check instead of asking you to send us a document. Where the Home Office can conduct an online check, this will count as one piece of evidence or a ‘document’.
The Home Office will conduct an online check, but they might need the organisation to help them locate the right information. For example, if the organisation needs to send the Home Office your company accounts, but if they are available free to view on your website, you will need to let the Home Office know your website address so the Home Office can find them.
In this example, you must include a cover letter along with your submission sheet and any documents you are sending to the Home Office.
The Home Office will then search your website for the accounts so you don’t have to send them.
- L8.7, L8.20, Annex L1(k): clarification added that sponsors must genuinely intend to offer the roles they have indicated in their sponsor licence application
The law under L8.7, L8.20, Annex L1(k): means:
If you are applying under the Skilled Worker, Scale-up or GBM routes, the Home Office must be satisfied you can and intend to offer genuine employment that meets the salary and skill-level criteria of those routes. See the relevant route-specific guidance for information on this.
If your business involves using no (or little) physical office space (a ‘virtual business model’), we will consider the type of work a sponsored worker will be doing and where the worker will be carrying out their employment duties. We may need to conduct a compliance check and/or see contracts between you and any third party.
Using a Legal Representative – News 2025
If you engage the services of a representative, whether for your sponsor license application or any other interactions with us, please ensure they are based in the UK. Additionally, if they will be offering immigration advice or immigration services, this is a requirement. (as defined in section 82 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (‘the 1999 Act’)), be authorised to provide such advice or services in accordance with section 84 of the 1999 Act. This means they must be one of the following:
regulated by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC)
a regulated member of a designated professional body or designated qualifying regulator, or working under the supervision of such a person – for the purposes of the 1999 Act, the designated bodies and regulators are the:
Legal Services Board (which has oversight of the Law Society, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, and the Bar Council)
- exempt from the requirement to be regulated (see below)
- otherwise compliant with section 84 of the 1999 Act
If a representative provides immigration advice or immigration services on your behalf without being ‘qualified’ under the 1999 Act, they may be committing a criminal offence.
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