Home Office cancels 3,081 care workers’ COS in 2022-2023 after firms lost licence to sponsor

LONDON May 13: An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and The Observer has found that 3,081 care workers had their certificates of sponsorship cancelled by the Home Office in 2022 and 2023.

In 94% of cases, the reason for the cancellation was that the company that hired them had its right to sponsor workers revoked.

The findings have prompted calls for reform of the tied visa system for care workers and demonstrate how workers are suffering for their employers’ actions – first exploited or given overblown promises, and then threatened with deportation by the government.

The Home Office said it had taken action to “crack down on worker exploitation and abuse” within the care sector and was working hard to “support care workers into alternative jobs when their sponsor has had their licence removed”. But when asked about what this support was, it did not provide details – saying only that the work was “ongoing”.

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