Ross Kennedy tackles latest hurdles for sponsors in LexisNexis

22 February 2026

Senior Client Manager Ross Kennedy examines recent developments for employers sponsoring workers for LexisNexis, including increased enforcement and sponsor licence revocations, requests for further information on submitting Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) allocation requests, reporting and visa curtailment issues – Home Office activity which affects sponsors of all sizes and sectors.

Home Office compliance and enforcement activity has increased massively in recent years, including sponsor licence suspensions and revocations. Ross Kennedy explains how much of the increase in revocations can be attributed to an increase in digital compliance reviews, driven by increased data sharing with HMRC regarding PAYE information, allowing the Home Office to identify more easily and more quickly if a sponsored worker is not being paid in accordance with their CoS. “It is also likely that this data sharing is going to ramp up further in due course and the number of revocations to increase accordingly,” Ross writes in LexisNexis.

Ross explains how this means it is more crucial than ever that all manner of sponsored worker pay and activity changes are reported via the Sponsorship Management System (SMS) to avoid being in breach of your sponsorship duties. This includes maternity pay and other related permitted absences or salary reductions.

Right to work checks

Though pre-employment right to work checks are not a legal requirement for employers, Ross also warns of “increasing number of examples where sponsor licences are refused or revoked based on failing to carry out such checks even before they become a sponsor.”

Sponsors are required to notify the Home Office that they are withdrawing sponsorship within 10 working days of a sponsored worker’s final day of employment or after they move to another immigration category that does not require sponsorship (eg a family visa or indefinite leave to remain). The Home Office should then take action to cancel the worker’s remaining permission, where appropriate. As many employers and advisers will know, this can in practice take the Home Office a considerable amount of time to process. However, in recent months it would appear that that this has changed and the notice of cancellation is now being issued in most cases within two months (rather than several months or never as has been the case in recent memory).

Ross also examines recent reports of the Home Office making an increased number of errors in curtailing work visas for workers changing their sponsor, including due to TUPE transfers.

Ross advises sponsors on all these matters, and if you are interested in a compliance audit or any such immigration matters, please contact Ross Kennedy.

Vanessa Ganguin Immigration Law Senior Counsel Ross Kennedy has a proven track record of successful practice with over a decade experience in personal and business immigration. He is a regular participant of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association (ILPA) Economic Migration Working Group and a contributing author for Lexis PSL, as well as writing about immigration law developments for other legal, immigration and national publications.