With little fanfare, the Home Office have published updated guidance for sponsors on their right to work obligations.
All employers are required to carry out checks on new employees, before they start work, to confirm that they have the right to work in the UK. Carrying these checks out properly and in accordance with applicable guidance will provide the employer with a statutory excuse, protecting them from penalties of up to £60,000 per illegal worker.
For sponsors, right to work obligations go a step further. Sponsors are expected to carry out right to work checks not only to acquire a statutory excuse and protect against illegal working penalties, but also to ensure compliance with wider employment law and thus their sponsor duties. Failing to do this can result in the revocation of the sponsor licence, with all sponsored workers having their visas curtailed.
Therefore, even if a sponsor does not have any illegal workers within their business, failing to carry out right to work checks or carrying these out in a non-compliant manner can have disastrous consequences for the sponsor business.
In March 2026, the Home Office published updated guidance, confirming that sponsors are expected to carry out these checks not only on their employees, but also on anyone “engaged” by the sponsor. This significantly widened the scope of a sponsor’s Right to Work obligations to potentially include a variety of third-party contractors.
In April 2026, the Home Office clarified that this obligation only applied in respect of those persons “directly engaged” by the sponsor – seemingly ruling out sub-contractors from the scope of the new rule but continuing to impose an obligation on sponsors to carry out right to work checks on non-employed contractors.
However, somewhat surprisingly and with little fanfare, the Home Office have now updated their guidance once again to confirm that sponsors are no longer required to carry out checks on “engaged” persons whatsoever.
Instead, sponsors must now carry out Right to Work checks on:
- all workers employed by the sponsor; and
- all workers sponsored by the sponsor, regardless of whether the sponsor is their employer.
It is understood that this U-turn comes following significant levels of negative feedback from sponsors, likely citing confusion over their obligations and the unmanageable administrative burden of carrying out right to work checks on such a large class of persons.
Right to work requirements are continuing to evolve at pace for sponsors and employers more generally, and we are seeing increased levels of Home Office enforcement action in this area. If you need support with confirming that your right to work processes are compliant, or with auditing your records, please do not hesitate to get in touch at [email protected] – we offer a range of services to suit your budget and needs.
