10 April 2025

On 6 April 2025 the criteria used to define small companies under the Companies Act 2006 changed, impacting relevant companies responsible for paying the sponsor licence application fees and Immigration Skills Charge (ISC) under the Worker routes.

Fees payable differ depending on the size of a sponsor, as follows:

What has changed?

For the purposes of defining which businesses fall under the ‘small company’ definition, the turnover and balance sheet thresholds have increased, benefitting companies that were previously classified as medium-sized but will now be considered small companies (the government anticipates 14,000 companies will move from medium-sized to small companies). A company will be considered small if any two of the below three criteria are met:

Note that a company must have met the relevant definition under the Companies Act 2006 for two full, consecutive financial years. Existing sponsors that have changed size (and met the requirements for two consecutive financial years) should submit a report through the Sponsor Management System (SMS) to the Home Office no later than 20 working days after becoming aware of the change. Provided the Home Office approves this change, the sponsor should be eligible to pay lower ISC fees when assigning a Certificate of Sponsorship.

If these changes have impacted your company regarding an upcoming sponsor licence application or ISC fee, or if you need assistance with reporting the size change to the Home Office, please reach out to your LDI lawyer or email our enquiries team at enquiries@lauradevine.com who shall be pleased to assist.