Record Spike: Why the Home Office is revoking so many sponsor licences

In the 12 months between July 2024 and June 2025, the UK Home Office revoked approximately 1,948 sponsor licences, more than double of the 937 revoked in the previous year. This extraordinary jump reflects a significant shift in enforcement and compliance within the UK’s immigration and labour regulation regimes. Employers that rely on overseas talent, especially under the Skilled Worker visa, must take action now to ensure that they understand what is required by them in order to stay compliant. 

What’ is driving the increase?

Several factors seem to be behind this spike:

1. Heightened compliance enforcement.
   The Home Office has stepped up audits (announced and unannounced), been more rigorous in inspections, and is acting more swiftly on discovered breaches. 
2. Tighter rules for certain sectors, notably social care.
   Since 2022, the visa scheme for care workers was widened (allowing lower-skilled roles to be sponsored), but abuses and exploitative practices drew severe criticism. Changes such as requiring those employers to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in England, and curbing family members entering on care visas, are among the policy responses. 
3. Regulatory gaps being exposed.
   Investigations showed cases of certificates of sponsorship granted to organisations that didn’t exist or had little capacity. These exposed weaknesses prompted the Home Office to crack down more broadly to restore integrity to the system.
4. Stricter salary / job criteria, reporting and record-keeping obligations.
   Employers are now being penalised for failing to meet minimum salary thresholds, mis-reporting or failing to maintain accurate employment / immigration records, not updating the Sponsorship Management System (SMS) within the specified timeframe, or failing to conduct proper Right to Work checks.

What sectors & employers are most affected

• Social care stands out: large numbers of licences revoked in care, due to concerns about underpayment, overpromising work or hours, exploitative practices and rogue employers. 
• Hospitality, retail, and construction also face heightened risk, especially where employment is informal, hours variable, or record-keeping weak. 
• Employers who are new to sponsorship, or who believed obtaining a licence was the most difficult part but underestimated the ongoing obligations, are particularly vulnerable. 

Consequences for affected employers & workers

• For employers, revocation means losing the ability to hire overseas talent via sponsored visas (Skilled Worker, etc.), reputational damage, and potentially losing existing Certificate(s) of Sponsorship. Also, after revocation there is a cooling-off period during which no new licence can be applied for. 
• For employees / visa holders, consequences can be severe: they would lose to right to work for the sponsor , meaning they may have a limited window to find a new sponsor or risk losing status in the UK. 
• Broader economic and social implications include disruption in sectors dependent on migrant labour (like care and hospitality), increased costs for employers to ensure compliance, and possibly increased risk for worker exploitation if oversight becomes more adversarial than supportive.

What employers can do to protect their sponsor licence & stay compliant

1. Audit your compliance systems now. Check Right to Work checks, data in the SMS, salary & role compliance, record keeping.
2. Train staff responsible for sponsorship duties so they fully understand the obligations, deadlines, reporting duties.
3. Establish strong HR / legal advice links so that you can anticipate changes (e.g. policy shifts in salary thresholds or sector-specific rules).
4. Monitor Home Office and sector announcements (e.g. for social care changes, sponsorship reforms) to stay ahead.

Conclusion

The recent increase in sponsor licence revocations by the Home Office marks more than just stricter policing. It signals a review of the entire sponsorship system. For employers, overseas hire is no longer just about obtaining a licence, but about maintaining it through rigorous compliance. For workers, especially in highly monitored sectors like care, the risks are high. 

For sponsors, longer-term planning, legal and HR diligence, and an ethical approach to sponsorship aren’t optional, they are absolutely essential.

For a “mock” compliance audit, training on sponsorship compliance and the sponsor management system contact us today on 0207 903 6889 or email: contact@davenportsolicitors.com.