Employment Law Digest April 2026: Navigating the latest Home Office sponsor guidance updates

Failure to meet these requirements may expose sponsors to increased scrutiny, compliance action, or enforcement measures, including licence downgrading or revocation. Sponsors should therefore take prompt steps to familiarise themselves with the updated guidance and implement any necessary changes.

Key Changes and What They Mean in Practice

Duty to Inform Sponsored Workers of Employment Rights

The guidance places an explicit obligation on sponsor to inform all sponsored workers of their employment rights and to ensure that they understand them. It says:

You must have human resources systems or processes in place which demonstrate that you provide this information to any employees or workers you sponsor. You must retain this evidence for any workers you sponsor, in accordance with Appendix D to this guidance.

Appendix D requires sponsors to keep copies of any written information provided to sponsored workers regarding this, alongside their employment contracts and any training courses provided.  This is more than a tick-box exercise and the Home Office can and will request evidence during an audit or compliance visit.

Key Personnel to Be Familiar with Sponsor Guidance

The Home Office has stated that both current and prospective sponsor licence holders must have read and understood all relevant sections of the sponsor guidance. This duty applies in particular to the Key Personnel named on the licence (Authorising Officer, Key Contact, Level 1 and 2 Users).

The sponsor guidance is vast and the key documents for Skilled Worker sponsor licence holders are:

• Workers and Temporary Workers – guidance for sponsors part 1: apply for a licence
• Sponsor a worker: sponsor guidance part 2

• Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors part 3: sponsor duties and compliance
• Sponsor a Skilled Worker
• Sponsor guidance appendix A: supporting documents for sponsor applications
• Sponsor guidance appendix B: immigration offences and sponsorship
• Sponsor guidance appendix C: civil penalties and sponsorship
• Sponsor guidance appendix D: keeping records for sponsorship
• Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors: glossary

The Home Office is likely to test that Key Personnel know where to find the guidance, have a general understanding of its content and are aware of recent changes.  To contact us about receiving training for Key Personnel please click here.

Tightening of Salary Payment Requirements

As part of the Home Office’s ongoing focus on preventing sponsored workers being underpaid, the rules on payment of salaries are being tightened for Certificates of Sponsorship (“CoS”) issued on or after 8 April 2026.

These changes affect how salary compliance will be assessed and monitored:

• Sponsored workers must be paid at least monthly, unless otherwise specified in their contract of employment;
• The salary received in each pay period must meet or exceed the minimum hourly rate for their role, as set by the Home Office;
• For monthly paid workers, the Home Office will check compliance across a 3-month period rather than a 12-month period.  This will vary for other pay patterns;
• If pay fluctuates e.g. because of shift patterns, this must be clearly noted on the CoS.

These measures signal a shift towards more granular and frequent compliance checks, increasing the risk of technical breaches if payroll practices are not carefully managed.

Genuine Vacancy vs Eligible Role

The Home Office has historically focused on the genuineness of a vacancy when it comes to sponsorship.  The updated guidance now includes a glossary which includes a new defined term of “eligible role”.  An eligible role is described as a vacancy or role which the Home Office is satisfied meets several requirements, including:

• It exists within the organisation at the point you assign the CoS (or you can reasonably anticipate will exist by the time you assign the CoS)
• It requires the jobholder to perform the specific duties and responsibilities (including the number of hours worked each week) for the job as set out on the CoS (or in an application or request for that CoS)
• It meets all of the requirements of the route the worker is being sponsored on, including skill and salary level, complies with the National Minimum Wage Act and the Working Time Regulations
• It is appropriate to the business in light of its business model, business plan and scale
• It will meet these requirements throughout the duration of sponsorship

This new definition provides an opportunity for the Home Office to challenge sponsors on whether or not it is appropriate to assign a CoS to a role and is potentially aimed at clamping down on self-sponsorship arrangements.

Right to work checks

The sponsor guidance now requires sponsors to check that “any worker you wish to employ or sponsor (including a worker who is not your direct employee)” has the right to work. Failure to do so can lead to liability for a civil penalty of up to £60,000 amongst other sanctions. It seems that the Home Office is expanding the right to work check requirement to sponsors in the first instance, ahead of an expansion to all employers in line with the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025.

A further change regarding right to work is that from 26 March 2026, individuals granted asylum will only have the right to work in jobs on the Appendix Skilled Occupations at RQF level 6 or above.  This will prevent them from taking employment in roles such as carers which has previously been permitted.

Action Points for Sponsors

These recent updates reflect a clear expectation by the Home Office; that employers and sponsors will be subject to an increased level of scrutiny and accountability.

In light of the above, it is recommended that all sponsors:

• Review sponsored workers’ employment contracts to ensure they accurately reflect statutory employment law rights – particularly in light of the introduction of the Employment Rights Act 2025
• Issue all sponsored workers with a short, plain-English summary or FAQ document of key employment rights and issue regular updates and reminders
• Consider putting on a short training session for sponsored workers on employment rights
• Retain evidence of the aforementioned information being distributed
• Ensure that everyone involved in the sponsor licence know where to find the sponsor guidance and provide initial and refresher training to Key Personnel, evidencing completion of the same
• Review payroll systems to ensure ongoing compliance for sponsored workers in every pay period
• Audit variable pay arrangements and ensure they are transparently reflected in CoS details
• Align employment contracts, payroll practices, and sponsor reporting to avoid inconsistencies
• Familiarise themselves with the changes to the right to work guidance.

Contact us to discuss any of the above in detail.