20 May 2026

On 6 March 2026, the Home Office significantly expanded sponsors’ right to work obligations, requiring checks on all workers they ‘engage’. On 8 April 2026, it clarified that this applied to workers sponsors ‘directly engage’.

Today, the Home Office has reversed this expansion of the right to work regime.

This is welcome news for sponsors who, in line with the previous position, must now undertake right to work checks on all employees, and sponsored workers (who may be employees or self- employed/contract workers).

As a reminder, under the right to work regime and sponsor guidance, sponsors are required to check that any worker they intend to sponsor (including a worker who is not directly employed) or any worker they otherwise wish to employ (whether or not they are sponsored) has the required immigration permission to work in the UK and undertake the relevant role before they start work.

Failure to carry out a right to work check, or any necessary follow-up check (such as before the expiry of a worker’s immigration permission) will constitute a breach of sponsor duties and may result in a civil penalty under illegal working legislation, risking licence revocation.

Future changes

The right to work regime is still likely to be expanded to cover non-employed workers in the future, however, such changes are not due to be implemented until autumn 2026 at the earliest and the scope of the extension has yet to be confirmed.

Get in touch

If your HR team requires assistance understanding these changes, contact your assigned LDI lawyer or our Enquiries team at enquiries@lauradevine.com, and we will be pleased to discuss how we can help.

Sponsor compliance services

LDI offers a range of sponsor compliance services, flexibly available individually or as a bundle.

Increased Home Office compliance visits and financial penalties make it essential for sponsors to ensure their business is compliant. As a market leader in immigration risk mitigation, LDI provides a bespoke, client-focused and responsive approach.

Our compliance services support compliant sponsors by strengthening their practices and providing reassurance to the businesses. For non-compliant sponsors, the service identifies specific risk areas and provides solutions to ensure licence compliance and robust practices through easy to implement strategies.