Expansion of Right to Work Check Obligations for Sponsor Licence Holders

Summary

The April 2026 update to the Home Office Workers and Temporary Workers: Guidance for Sponsors, Part 2 introduces a material change to paragraph S1.40. Sponsor licence holders should review their right to work check procedures in light of this update.

What Has Changed

The revised S1.40 now reads:

“You must check that any worker you wish to sponsor (including a worker who is not your direct employee), or any worker you otherwise wish to employ or directly engage, has permission to enter or stay in the UK and can do the work in question before they start working for you.”

The previous version, in force from 6 March 2026, required checks on any worker a sponsor wished to “employ or sponsor.” The April revision creates two distinct limbs of obligation:

1. Any worker you wish to sponsor — including a worker who is not your direct employee; and
2. Any worker you otherwise wish to employ or directly engage.

The recent updates extend the right to work check obligation beyond the direct employment and the sponsorship context, capturing workers who are directly engaged but not sponsored — including those who may already hold the right to work without sponsorship.

Strengthened Consequences

The April guidance also tightens the language on consequences. The revised paragraph states:

“If you fail to carry out a right to work check, or any necessary follow-up checks, you will be in breach of your sponsor duties and may be liable for a civil penalty under illegal working legislation. If you are issued with a civil penalty, or otherwise fail to carry out the correct checks, we will normally revoke your licence.”

This confirms that failure to carry out the correct checks is explicitly characterised as a breach of sponsor duties in its own right — separate from, and in addition to, any civil penalty liability. Second, the earlier formulation (“may be liable”) has been supplemented: revocation can now follow not only from a civil penalty being issued, but from a failure to carry out the correct checks more broadly.

Recommended Actions

In light of these changes, sponsors should consider the following steps:

• Review current right to work check procedures to ensure they cover all workers directly engaged (including those who are not your direct employee)
• Map non-standard working relationships — including workers supplied through related entities or engaged on a self-employed basis — to assess whether checks are in place.
• Train HR and hiring managers on the updated scope of the obligation.

For detailed requirements on how checks must be carried out, sponsors should refer to the Right to work checks: an employer’s guide and Appendix D to the sponsor guidance, both of which are referenced in S1.40.

Authors

& Ali Husein, Immigration Intern