The Home Office are applying increased scrutiny to DCoS applications made by applicants operating in the Care sector. Why?
Sponsors operating in the Care sector are seeing a noticeable delay and push back from the Home Office when making applications for Defined Certificates of Sponsorship (DCoS). Why is this? The abuse and exploitation of migrant care workers has been widely publicised in recent months, with unscrupulous employers taking advantage of vulnerable migrant workers and operating under rogue and unethical practices.
These practices range from charging migrant workers inappropriate fees for sponsorship leaving them in financial difficulties, to hiring workers for positions, which simply don’t exist, leaving many in the UK without employment.
Since July 2022, the Government has removed approximately over 450 sponsor licenses from businesses within the care sector to crackdown on illegal working practices and immigration abuse in this sector.
What is a DCoS?
For any skilled worker application made from outside the UK, a sponsor will need to apply for a DCoS. This electronic document sets out the description for that role and the salary payable. An individual making a Skilled Worker application from outside the UK will need a DCoS to make their visa application. Ordinarily, an application for a DCoS is processed within one working day. However, this has not been our experience with care sector requests.
Increased scrutiny and information requests from the Home Office are becoming routine for sponsors in the care sector, with UKVI often making specific requests for information about the role itself, to satisfy themselves that there is a “genuine vacancy” and to ensure that sponsors are not seeking certificates for roles that simply do not exist. That is, if the sponsor is lucky enough to not have had the application rejected at the outset for lack of information.
The information that may be requested varies from copies of contracts for services to demonstrate the business has genuine vacancies, a breakdown in hours required to fulfill those contracts, together with copies of the contracts confirming the hours required, organisation charts, breakdowns of where in the UK migrants will be employed, staff rotas and corporate bank statements.
These requests are often very specific, and clear descriptions are required in support of the request – with often only 5 days given to respond. This means that legitimate employers in the care sector face difficult hurdles to jump when trying to recruit much-needed care workers from overseas at short notice – many of which will fall foul at the first hurdle by not understanding how to appropriately respond to a request for information.
What can we do to help?
We have experience of dealing with and achieving successful outcome for our clients with seeking DCoS allocations in the care sector. We have experience in dealing with additional requests from the Home Office for information and applying to local authorities for support in these applications. It is important that all information required by the Home Office guidance is also included.
Most recently, we have successfully secured DCoS allocations for a client, where the Home Office had rejected a number of initial requests, only to submit a substantial request for information in support of a further application. This involved contacting local authorities to seek direct support from the director of adult social services (DASS), as part of a new pilot scheme between the DASS and the Home Office to support legitimate recruitment of overseas workers where there is a genuine need to do so.
What happens next?
This is likely to become a more frequent occurrence when seeking DCoS allocations with the Home Office crackdown on sponsor compliance and unethical employers.
Employers should familiarise themselves with the requirements for a DCoS application the applicable Home Office guidance and prepare themselves for any requests for information.
There is some good news for care operators in achieving an allocation of DCoS. In a recent case a care home operator (Harford Care Group) successfully challenged the Home Office’s decision to refuse a DCoS request on the grounds that the sponsor could not provide official contracts for guaranteed hours of work to show that the jobs were genuine. In that case, the Home Office request was found to be unlawful as these contracts do not exist in the care sector and it would be unreasonable to expect a sponsor to provide such contracts.
Whilst this decision is welcome news to the care sector, we expect more scrutiny in DCoS requests moving forward to align with the Government’s aim to reduce reliance on overseas labour.
If you require assistance with DCoS allocations, or in dealing with a request for information from the Home Office, please get in touch with [email protected].
