Insight
Another care provider loses its sponsor licence: what can we learn from this case?
By Sponsor ComplIANS · 13 November 2026 · 5 min read
Recently, I received a call from a care provider we had previously helped get their sponsor licence reinstated.
He asked if he could refer another care provider to us who had just lost their sponsor licence.
I thanked him and said I really appreciated it. I then asked him why he had recommended us.
He said it was because we had helped them get their licence back and achieved the result they needed. He also told me that the other care provider had lost their licence.
I was curious to find out what had happened, so I agreed to speak to the care provider and look at their revocation letter.
Why was the licence revoked?
When I read the revocation letter, I found that the licence had been revoked for one reason. The care provider had failed to carry out the correct online right-to-work checks for its sponsored workers.
What caught my attention was that the Home Office had actually given the provider another opportunity to address its concerns and provide any explanation or mitigating evidence.
This was an important opportunity to properly examine the concerns, review the circumstances of each worker and put forward the strongest possible representations.
But the representations did not address the right-to-work findings.
The Home Office was not satisfied with the response, and the sponsor licence was revoked.
What happens to the provider now?
Sadly, in our experience, it can take 12 to 18 months, potentially longer, before a matter like this is resolved. In the meantime, the provider will have to deal with the consequences of losing their sponsor licence, including the impact on their sponsored workers, staffing, care packages and the future of their business.
We have helped sponsors in this position before.
But what we cannot change is the time it will take, the costs involved and the consequences of losing a sponsor licence, which will affect almost every aspect of their care service.
Even if we eventually succeed in getting their licence reinstated, it won't undo the disruption, financial losses and difficulties the business will have gone through in the meantime.
What is the lesson for other care providers?
And this is the thing. This particular care provider had taken steps to make sure their sponsored workers were paid the salaries stated in their Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS).
They were clearly aware of the importance of meeting their salary obligations. But what they didn't realise was that they could still lose their sponsor licence over something else, such as failing to carry out the correct right-to-work checks.
They had focused on one area of compliance without realising that failures in other areas could have equally serious consequences.
And that is exactly what happened here.
What will we cover at Sponsor ComplIANS Live?
This is one of the key things I will be talking about at our Sponsor ComplIANS Live event on 26 November.
Which areas of sponsor compliance is the Home Office scrutinising when deciding to revoke licences? What are the common reasons for revocation based on the decisions we've seen over the last six months?
I'm not talking about what was happening a year ago. I'm talking about what the Home Office has been looking at recently, the breaches they're identifying and the reasons care providers are losing their licences now.
Because the problem is, you don't know what you don't know.
And that's exactly what I want to share with you at our live event on 26 November, so you can identify these risks in your own business before the Home Office does.
Every case depends on its individual facts. The outcome in any case does not guarantee the same result in another matter.
Sponsor ComplIANS Live, 26 November 2026
Sponsor ComplIANS Live is a practical day for payroll, HR, coordinators and managers in care providers that sponsor workers. It covers why care providers are losing sponsor licences, who does what across HR, payroll, recruitment and coordinators, and a full demonstration of the Hub.
- When: Thursday 26 November 2026, 9am to 5pm
- Where: Leicester Marriott Hotel
- Paid by 11:59pm UK time on Thursday 19 November: £699 + VAT for the first attendee and £300 + VAT for each additional attendee booked together
- After that: £999 + VAT and £600 + VAT
Attending does not guarantee compliance or any outcome with the Home Office.
Related reading
Related questions
Can a care provider lose its sponsor licence over right-to-work checks alone?
Yes. In the case described here, the licence was revoked for one reason: the correct online right-to-work checks had not been carried out for the provider's sponsored workers. Paying the salaries stated in the Certificates of Sponsorship did not protect it from that.
Is there a right of appeal against a sponsor licence revocation?
No. The sponsor guidance says there is no right of appeal against a revocation decision (Part 3, C10.3). A decision can be challenged by judicial review, which has strict time limits, so take advice as soon as the decision arrives.
What will Sponsor ComplIANS Live cover on 26 November?
Which areas of sponsor compliance the Home Office is scrutinising when it decides to revoke licences, and the common reasons for revocation in the decisions we have seen over the last six months, so you can identify these risks in your own business.