The Home Office updated its sponsor guidance on 6 March 2026.
Duty to keep evidence on the provision of worker rights and welfare information
Has been updated to require sponsors to retain evidence that they have told their sponsored employees or workers about their employment rights in the UK:
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.
The record could be copies of any written information you have provided to your workers, contract of employment, and training or awareness courses provided to workers.
What sponsors need to grasp is that this is not a box to tick for future hires and then forget about. The duty applies to all employees and workers you currently sponsor. If no evidence exists for someone already in post, you are already non-compliant. That means going back through every sponsored person and ensuring the evidence is there.
A new defined term of eligible role
New defined term of eligible role in the glossary. In essence, a role qualifies for a certificate of sponsorship only if it genuinely exists at the point the certificate of sponsorship is assigned and requires the worker to perform the specific duties and hours set out on that certificate. It must also meet the skill level and salary requirements of the relevant route and be appropriate to the sponsor’s business model, business plan and scale. The Home Office must be satisfied that all of those conditions will continue to be met throughout the period of sponsorship.
This gives the Home Office an explicit basis for questioning whether a sponsored role is genuinely connected to a real business need, and to challenge the sponsor on this point. Those advising on self-sponsorship arrangements, or introducing a new role to an organisation, should take careful note, as this gives the Home Office leverage to frustrate plans.
Occupation codes and job descriptions
The guidancesays explicitly that the role and job description on a certificate of sponsorship must accurately reflect what the worker actually does:
If we discover that a sponsored worker is working in a role that does not match the occupation code or job description for which the CoS was assigned, and this is not a permitted change as described above, this will be a mandatory ground for revocation of your sponsor licence.
Reporting permitted changes has always been required within ten working days. What is new is spelling out in terms that failing to do so can cost you your licence.
Sponsors need to look at this across their whole workforce, not just new starters, and make sure that internal processes for handling promotions, restructures and role changes are compliant with this duty. This also means that if a change does not fall within permitted changes and requires a new certificate of sponsorship, this is also identified and actioned immediately to avoid non-compliance issues.
Other changes and additions
From 7 April 2026, sponsored workers must be paid their required salary in each individual pay period, not averaged across the year. A single month’s payroll error now potentially carries the same risk as sustained underpayment.
From 26 March 2026, asylum seekers accepting a new offer of employment will be restricted to occupations at degree level or above. The change applies at the point of accepting the offer, so existing arrangements are not retrospectively affected, but any new hire from that date must meet the threshold.
