In 2024, we saw significant changes to the Skilled Worker category. On the last day of the year, the Home Office made further updates to the sponsor guidance, clarifying who is permitted to pay for certain Home Office fees, as well as a ban on sponsoring workers in a ‘personal capacity’.
New guidance on the recouping of certain fees
On 31 December 2024, Part 1 of the sponsor guidance was updated. This will affect any organisations who are applying for sponsor licences or assigning Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) from 31 December 2024 onwards.
The following paragraph has been added to the guidance:
“You are responsible for paying the sponsorship fees listed above. We will normally revoke your licence if you recoup, or attempt to recoup, by any means, the following fees from a worker you are sponsoring:
- the Skilled Worker sponsor licence fee (including the fee for adding that route to your existing licence) and any associated administrative costs (including premium services) where you recoup, or attempt to recoup, that fee or those costs on or after 31 December 2024
- the Certificate of Sponsorship fee for a Skilled Worker, where that Certificate was assigned on or after 31 December 2024
- the Immigration Skills Charge for a Skilled Worker or a Senior or Specialist Worker, where you are required to pay this”
This confirms that sponsors are prohibited from passing on the cost of the sponsor licence fee, or associated administrative costs, such as the sponsor licence priority service fee, to a sponsored worker.
Previous sponsor guidance already confirmed that sponsors were not permitted to pass on the cost of the Immigration Skills Charge to the worker, however the CoS fee has, until now, been a grey area.
The updated guidance now confirms that sponsors cannot pass on the CoS fee to a worker, where the CoS was assigned on or after 31 December 2024.
With the rise of Home Office compliance action last year, which we expect will continue, it is vital that sponsors are aware of these updates to the guidance and ensure that they do not pass on any prohibited fees to workers. If the Home Office were to discover that the sponsor had recouped or attempted to recoup the above fees from a sponsored worker, this would normally lead to the revocation of the sponsor licence.
In our previous article, we look in detail at the cost of Skilled Worker sponsorship, but given the recent updates, what fees does the sponsor now have to cover?
Fees that the sponsoring organisation must cover
In line with the updated guidance, the sponsor must now cover the following Home Office fees, and must not recoup (or attempt to recoup) these fees from the worker:
- Sponsor licence fee: £536 for small companies, or £1,476 for medium/large companies.
- Any associated administrative costs for the sponsor licence application, for example the sponsor licence priority fee of £500.
- Immigration Skills Charge: £364 per year of the sponsorship for small companies, or £1,000 per year for medium/large companies.
- Certificate of Sponsorship fee: £239.
Fees that the sponsored worker may cover
If a sponsoring organisation would like the worker to cover some Home Office fees associated with the visa application, it is permitted for the worker to pay the following fees only:
- Immigration Health Surcharge: £1,035 per year of the sponsorship.
- Visa application fee: between £719 – £1,636, depending on the duration of sponsorship and whether the individual is making their application from inside or outside of the UK.
- Visa priority service fee (optional): £500 – £1,000 depending on the service chosen.
New ban on sponsoring workers in a personal capacity
Also on 31 December 2024, Part 1 of the sponsor guidance was updated to introduce a ban on sponsoring workers in a personal capacity.
The guidance now states the following:
“We will not grant you a licence if you intend to sponsor workers in a personal capacity, such as in either of following circumstances:
- you are an individual person or household who wishes to employ or engage a worker, or workers, in a personal capacity and you are not otherwise conducting business or providing a service in the UK
- the worker, or workers, will be employed by, or engaged for the personal benefit of, an individual who works for your organisation, or a close relative or partner of that individual, and the role is unrelated to your organisation’s wider activities”
The guidance goes on to state that, if the Home Office find that a sponsor has used their licence to sponsor workers in a personal capacity, the licence will normally be revoked.
The only exception to this is for private servants in a diplomatic household where the diplomatic mission, consular post or recognised international organisation is licensed on the International Agreement route.
It is very likely that 2025 will see more updates to the Skilled Worker category and to the sponsor guidance, and we will be regularly providing updates on the latest changes. You can subscribe to receive our legal updates here.
Sponsorship: How our Immigration Solicitors can help
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