Sponsor-Licence Compliance, Built In
For UK home care agencies sponsoring carers under the Health and Care Worker visa. Recruitment from overseas closed on 22 July 2025, but agencies still sponsor workers already in the UK under transitional arrangements running to 22 July 2028, and every sponsored carer already on the books still has to be tracked. Track Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) allocation, manage Right to Work checks, see visa expiry coming months before it lands, and keep every 10-day UKVI report inside its deadline, all inside the same platform that runs your rota.
Built for UK Home Care Sponsors
Sponsor-licence compliance is a part-time job most agencies do as a full-time crisis. Spreadsheets of CoS numbers. Visa expiry dates in someone's calendar. Right to Work copies in a folder no one's audited. UKVI reports filed late, or not at all. One unannounced compliance visit and the licence is gone, along with every sponsored carer on the rota, and you cannot apply for a new licence for at least 12 months.
homecareOS solves this by keeping the whole compliance trail in one place instead of spread across a filing cabinet and three spreadsheets. You record each sponsored carer once, their CoS reference, visa type and dates, BRP or eVisa reference, sponsored salary and SOC code, and from then on the dates sit where you can see them. A visa six months from expiry is already showing amber on the sponsorship screen, and the sponsorship menu carries a running count of the visas expiring inside ninety days. Anyone recorded below the salary threshold is flagged. Log a reportable change once and the ten working day UKVI deadline is worked out for you, then turns red if the day passes. You stay licensed, you keep sponsoring, you sleep at night. For a plain-English walkthrough of the five sponsor duties and the 10-day reporting triggers, read our sponsor licence compliance guide for home care agencies.
What homecareOS Tracks for Your Sponsor Licence
Sponsor Licence Dashboard
One screen showing your sponsor rating (A or B), CoS allocation used vs remaining, sponsored-worker headcount, upcoming licence renewal date, and any open UKVI reporting actions. Headcount, visa expiry warnings and outstanding reports update as your sponsored-worker records change. CoS allocation and usage are the figures you hold in your SMS account, kept on the same screen as everything else rather than in a separate spreadsheet.
CoS Allocation Tracking
Record each Certificate of Sponsorship against the carer it was assigned to, with the CoS number, the assigned date and the expiry date, plus the SOC code, the role title and the salary it was issued on. Your annual allocation and the number used so far sit on the sponsor licence record, and every CoS expiry date feeds the key dates timeline alongside visa expiry.
Right to Work Workflow
Capture a share code, passport or any of the other accepted documents at onboarding, recording who verified it, when, and by which method: manual, online share code, or Employer Checking Service. Set a follow-up date for time-limited permission and get a warning as expiry approaches. Every check is kept as a dated history on the carer record, next to DBS, PVG or AccessNI, with the document copy filed under their documents. Built around the Home Office Right to Work Code of Practice, so the evidence sits where a compliance visit expects to find it.
Visa Expiry Tracking
Every sponsored carer is listed by visa expiry with the days remaining against the record, amber from six months out, red inside ninety days, and red again once the date has passed. The same countdown sits on the carer's own record, and the sponsorship menu carries a running count of the visas expiring within ninety days. Visa dates, CoS number and BRP or eVisa reference are all held in one place, so no more "did anyone book the renewal?" panic at 60 days out.
10-Day UKVI Reporting
UKVI requires sponsors to report changes within 10 working days. Log the event against the carer (address change, role change, salary change, employment ending, prolonged absence) and homecareOS works out the 10 working day deadline, holds the detail you need to file through the Sponsorship Management System (SMS), and turns the report red if it is still outstanding once that deadline passes. Each report keeps its event date, its deadline, the date you marked it submitted and the SMS reference the Home Office returned.
Sponsored-Carer Records
Sponsored carers carry a documentation trail that UK-resident carers do not: CoS reference, visa type and dates, BRP or eVisa reference, sponsored salary and SOC code, dependants, and the record that you told them their employment rights. homecareOS holds all of it on a sponsorship record attached to the carer, next to their right to work check and their documents, so the evidence is in one place when the Home Office asks for it.
Everything Inside the Sponsor-Licence Module
Specifically designed for UK home care agencies sponsoring under SOC codes 6135 (Care Worker) and 6136 (Senior Care Worker), reflecting current Home Office Sponsor Guidance for Workers and Temporary Workers.
Salary threshold checks
Record each sponsored carer's gross annual salary and homecareOS flags anyone below the current Health and Care Worker minimum of £25,000, so you can put it right before it becomes a UKVI reporting issue. Going rates are set per SOC code and change, so check the rate for the role on gov.uk before you assign a CoS.
Three-month payroll evidence
The transitional in-country route requires the worker to have been legally employed by you for three months before the CoS is assigned. Mark the evidence held against the sponsored worker and the date it was confirmed is stored with it, with a matching item on the sponsor audit checklist.
End of sponsorship recording
When a sponsored carer's employment ends, record the end date and the reason against their record, then log the UKVI report alongside it. The reporting deadline is worked out for you as ten working days from the date of the event, and the report is flagged the moment it passes that date.
Genuine vacancy evidence
The sponsor-licence audit checklist carries a genuine vacancy and eligible role item. Record whether the test is documented, add your evidence notes, and the platform stamps the date it was last checked, so your answer sits with the rest of the checklist rather than in someone's inbox.
Document storage with expiry
Passport, qualifications, references, right to work evidence, and SCW, SSSC or NISCC registration if relevant. Each document timestamped, expiry-tracked, surfaced when renewal is due. BRP and eVisa share code details are recorded on the carer's right to work check, with their own expiry and follow-up dates.
UKVI compliance audit checklist
The checks a UKVI visit works through, grouped by HR systems, record keeping, salary, reporting, recruitment and training. Mark each one compliant or not, note where the evidence sits, and the date it was last checked is stored against it, so you walk the list with the auditor alongside your worker register and your reporting queue.
Multi-nation sponsor coverage
Sponsor licences are UK-wide but agencies operating across nations must align with each regulator (CQC / CIW / Care Inspectorate / RQIA). Sponsorship sits on the carer file alongside right to work, references, training and SCW, SSSC or NISCC registration, so one record covers the person rather than two systems. Right to work checks and background checks can also be attached as evidence against your nation's compliance framework.
Employment rights information
Sponsors must give each sponsored worker information about their employment rights, and be able to show they did. Mark the worker as informed and the date is stored on their sponsorship record, with two matching items on the audit checklist covering the briefing and the evidence you kept.
The Cost of Getting It Wrong
Sponsor-licence compliance has tightened materially since 2024, and care-sector sponsors have lost licences following compliance visits. The Home Office publishes revocation numbers but not the grounds for each one, so nobody can honestly rank the causes. What the sponsor duties ask for is unglamorous: records kept, changes reported inside ten working days, right to work checked, genuine vacancies evidenced.
The criminal "knowingly employing" offence remains in force under Section 21 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, up to 5 years' imprisonment. Sound record-keeping is exactly what proper software is designed to make routine.
Penalty, deadline and cooling-off figures are the statutory maximums and current sponsor duties published by the Home Office, not typical outcomes. Longer cooling-off periods apply in specified cases, including civil penalties for illegal working. Check the current Sponsor Guidance on gov.uk before acting.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Health and Care Worker visa?
A sub-category of the UK Skilled Worker visa, opened to social care roles in February 2022. It allowed agencies holding a sponsor licence to recruit workers from overseas into Care Worker (SOC 6135) and Senior Care Worker (SOC 6136) roles. That overseas route closed on 22 July 2025 under Statement of Changes HC 997. Transitional arrangements run until 22 July 2028: you can still sponsor a worker already in the UK who is switching from another route, provided they have been legally employed by you for at least three months before the CoS is issued.
What is a sponsor licence?
Permission from UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI, part of the Home Office) for an employer to sponsor migrant workers under the points-based immigration system. Home care agencies that sponsor carers under the Health and Care Worker visa must hold a Worker sponsor licence, and it carries ongoing record-keeping, reporting and compliance duties enforced by the Home Office.
What is a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS)?
A digital reference number issued from your sponsor licence that you assign to a specific worker for a specific role. The worker uses the CoS to apply for their visa. Sponsor licence holders receive an annual CoS allocation, and can apply for an in-year increase if they run out. Defined CoS are the type used for Skilled Worker visas, including Health and Care Worker.
What are the main sponsor licence duties?
Five duties matter most: (1) Right to Work checks before employment starts and at visa expiry, (2) keeping records of sponsored workers: passport, visa, BRP/share code, contact details, attendance, (3) reporting changes to UKVI within 10 working days (address change, role change, salary change, employment ending, absences), (4) maintaining genuine vacancies (no over-sponsoring), and (5) cooperating with Home Office compliance audits.
What happens if you lose your sponsor licence?
All sponsored workers become unable to continue working for you and typically have 60 days to find a new sponsor or leave the UK. The agency itself cannot apply for a new licence for at least 12 months from the date of revocation, rising to 24 months if a licence has been revoked more than once, and longer in specified cases such as illegal working civil penalties. Care-sector sponsors have lost licences following compliance visits since 2024, but the Home Office publishes the revocation numbers rather than the grounds for each one.
Does homecareOS report directly to UKVI on my behalf?
No. The legal duty to report sits with the licence holder, and reporting is done through the Sponsorship Management System (SMS) by your authorising officer or Level 1 user. What homecareOS does is hold the reportable event once you log it, work out the 10 working day deadline, flag it if it goes past due, and keep the supporting record where a compliance visit can find it.
What is the salary threshold for the Health and Care Worker visa?
Since April 2025 the minimum gross salary is the higher of £25,000 per year or the going rate for the role. Care Worker (SOC 6135) and Senior Care Worker (SOC 6136) have specific going rates set by occupation. The threshold has been rising and is expected to continue increasing. Sponsors must check current values on gov.uk before issuing a CoS.
Stop Worrying About Your Sponsor Licence
Book a 20-minute demo and we'll walk through the sponsor-licence module on a sample agency: CoS log, RTW workflow, visa expiry tracking, the 10-day reporting queue, and the UKVI audit checklist.
Compare homecareOS to your current software
Most care platforms stop at right to work checks and document expiry dates. The sponsor-specific work, the CoS log, the 10-day UKVI reports, the audit checklist, is left to spreadsheets alongside three other compliance trackers, with no link back to the rota or the carer record.