Sponsor Licence

A sponsor licence authorises a UK employer to hire workers from outside the UK under most work visa routes, including Skilled Worker and Health and Care Worker. The application is made online to the Home Office; fees are £611 (small or charitable sponsors) or £1,682 (medium or large employers). Employers must demonstrate adequate HR systems for compliance monitoring: right to work checks, absence tracking, and record-keeping. Once granted, a licence is valid for 4 years and can be renewed. Sponsors are assigned Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) which they assign to individual workers. Failure to meet sponsor duties — such as reporting a worker who stops attending work within 10 working days — can result in suspension, downgrading, or revocation of the licence. Revocation of a licence triggers curtailment of visas held by sponsored workers, putting them out of status. UKVI conducts unannounced compliance visits.

What it means in practice. A licence is an ongoing compliance commitment, not a one-off permission. The Home Office expects named personnel — an authorising officer, a key contact, and at least one level 1 user of the Sponsorship Management System — and expects HR systems that can produce, on demand, right to work records, contact details, absence records, and evidence that the role was genuine and paid at the stated rate. Licences are rated, and a sponsor found wanting can be downgraded and required to complete an action plan at its own cost before being restored.

A worked example. A care provider is granted a licence and sponsors twelve workers. Two leave without notice. The provider does not report either departure through the Sponsorship Management System. Nine months later UKVI makes an unannounced visit, finds the reporting failures and gaps in absence records, and suspends the licence pending investigation. During suspension no new Certificates of Sponsorship can be assigned. Had the licence been revoked, all twelve workers would have had their permission curtailed, generally leaving them a short window to find another sponsor or leave the UK.

Common pitfalls. The ten-working-day reporting deadlines catch out almost every new sponsor — changes of workplace, changes of duties, unauthorised absences of ten or more consecutive working days, and early departures all have to be reported. Treating sponsorship as an HR afterthought rather than assigning clear ownership is the underlying cause. And charging the worker the sponsor licence fee or the Immigration Skills Charge is prohibited and can itself cost you the licence.

How it relates to other terms. The licence is the foundation of the Skilled Worker visa and other sponsored routes within the points-based system, and it is exercised by assigning a Certificate of Sponsorship. Sponsor duties sit on top of, and do not replace, the ordinary right to work checks every employer must carry out.

What to do next. Read our sponsor licence guide before applying, and build the reporting calendar described in employer sponsor duties into your HR process from day one. If a licence is already suspended or under threat, read sponsor licence revocation and get specialist advice immediately.