Sponsor licence revocations are rising. Is your care business protected?
Enforcement is at record levels. The Home Office revoked 4,403 Skilled Worker sponsor licences in the year to June 2026, with care businesses being hit particularly hard.
The Home Office has reported large-scale non-compliance in adult social care, including providers losing their sponsor licences and thousands of international care workers being displaced.
Data-driven and intelligence-led enforcement.
Since April 2026, UKVI has had access to HMRC payroll data for sponsored workers.
Payroll data is cross-referenced against sponsor records automatically, and the Home Office increasingly makes contact about a data anomaly before any visit is arranged. The discrepancy that triggers a review may be one nobody has noticed.
That means discrepancies between what you're paying someone and what's on their Certificate of Sponsorship can be identified without waiting for a compliance visit.
Your payroll. Your HR records. Your sponsorship records. They all need to tell the same story.
The recruitment safety net is closing.
The overseas route for new care worker applications closed in July 2025. So when a provider loses experienced international workers, replacing them isn't getting easier.
Care Hires' Workforce Economics 2026 report found that 53% of new starters simply move from another care provider.
What actually triggers a revocation.
- Paying a sponsored worker less than the salary on their Certificate of Sponsorship
- A mismatch between the certificate and the duties performed, the "genuine vacancy" test
- Gaps, inconsistencies or delays in right to work checks
- Late reporting on the Sponsorship Management System, or weak absence and tracking records
- No reliable system for diarising visa expiry
You can't manage what you can't see.
Sponsor compliance goes beyond Right to Work. Providers need accurate records, clear oversight and the right information reported to UKVI when circumstances change.
That means knowing:
- Who's sponsored
- Where they're working
- What their status is
- What's changed
- What's still valid
- Where the evidence is
If workforce information sits across spreadsheets, HR systems, agency portals and inboxes, getting a complete picture is hard.
Care Hires brings workforce compliance and agency staffing together in one place.
See:
- Who's working
- Who's compliant
- What's still valid
- What's missing
- What needs attention
Right to Work checks are verified against the Home Office, with status and expiry information tracked against the worker. And it sits alongside the other checks your workforce needs, DBS, training, references and professional registration.
One worker. One record. One clear view.
Don't wait for your licence to be at risk.
The care workforce is already under pressure. Overseas recruitment has tightened. Retention matters more. Providers are competing for the same people.
The last thing you need is a compliance gap putting your sponsor licence at risk.
Know your workers. Know your compliance. Know your evidence.
Get control of compliance.