James Lamont writes explainer on recent right to work changes for employers with sponsor licences

15 April 2026

James Lamont’s recent article for immigration practitioners’ resource Free Movement explores recent changes in right to work guidance for employers with sponsor licences.

Spring 2026 changes for organisations with sponsorship licences include extending the duty to conduct right to work checks beyond just sponsored workers and employees, to anyone ‘directly engaged’ by the sponsor.

James examines all the guidance changes in March and in April to build a picture of what expectations there are of sponsoring employers and what the consequences of getting this wrong would be.

“On 6 March 2026, the Home Office updated its guidance for sponsors to include new duties around right to work checks. The changes appeared to extend the duty to conduct right to work checks beyond sponsored workers, potentially capturing anyone ‘engaged’ by the sponsor. ‘Engaged’ was not defined,” writes James.

“A further change on 8 April has clarified this to mean ‘direct’ engagement, but confusion remains. The guidance now contradicts itself in places and the grounds for revocation have been expanded in a way that means sponsors could be penalised even where they have done everything right. This article sets out the recent changes, what they mean in practice and where the problems lie.”

James examines the consequences of the sponsor guidance annexes on grounds for refusal or revocation of a licence adding engaging someone who does not have permission to grounds for revocation.

The guidance now states that where you are employing or engaging a worker who does not have the right to work in the UK, your sponsor licence will normally be revoked.

These are significant changes, because most employers will not have been carrying out right to work checks on self-employed workers and will be unaware of their status – it has not been a requirement to do so and failure to do so has no consequences under current legislation relating to illegal working.

Where sponsors are engaging self-employed workers, there is limited scope to protect against the loss of their licence if a self-employed worker is found not to have the right to work, with the only reprieve being that this is a discretionary ground for revocation.

The firm has written to the Home Office for more clarity for our clients. In the meantime we would recommend carrying out right to work checks on all workers whether employed or not directly employed, e.g. self-employed, secondees etc. to mitigate any risk as much as possible and screen out anyone directly engaged who does not have the right to work in the UK.

Below you can read James’ full article which examines the wording in the various sections of the guidance in more detail to explain the contradictions and consequences of the new stipulations for sponsors. (Though it will in time be paywalled.)