UK Home Office Introduces Temporary Protection for Care Workers After Sponsor Licence Revocation

LONDON Sept 15: A significant change in Home Office caseworker guidance gives certain care workers greater protection from the cancellation of their UK immigration permission when their sponsoring employer loses its sponsor licence. The Home Office has introduced a temporary arrangement specifically for adult social care workers whose employers have had their sponsor licences revoked. 

The change appears in the latest version of the “Cancellation and curtailment of permission” guidance for Home Office caseworkers, published in September 2026. The guidance confirms that, in specified circumstances, a care worker’s immigration permission should not be cancelled solely because their sponsor’s licence has been revoked.

What has changed?  Ordinarily, the Immigration Rules allow a Skilled Worker’s or other sponsored worker’s permission to be cancelled where their sponsor no longer holds a valid sponsor licence.

Paragraph SUI 34.1 provides that a person on routes including the Skilled Worker route may have their permission cancelled where their sponsor does not have a sponsor licence. However, the updated caseworker guidance now creates a specific temporary arrangement for certain adult social care workers. The guidance states that caseworkers must not cancel a person’s permission where:

• the person holds permission under the Skilled Worker or Health and Care Worker route;
• they are working as a care worker or senior care worker; and
• the only reason for cancellation would be the revocation of their sponsor’s licence.

The relevant occupation codes identified by the Home Office are:

• SOC 6135 / 6145 – Care workers and home carers
• SOC 6136 / 6146 – Senior care workers.

Why is this important?

The change is particularly significant because the loss of a sponsor licence can place an international worker in an extremely uncertain immigration position. Under the normal sponsorship system, a worker’s immigration permission is closely connected to their sponsoring employer. Where the sponsor loses its licence, the Home Office can ordinarily consider cancellation under SUI 34.1. The new guidance recognises that, in the adult social care sector, workers can be affected by regulatory action taken against their employer even when the worker themselves has not committed an immigration breach.

The Home Office has previously taken significant enforcement action against care-sector sponsors. Government figures published in 2025 stated that more than 470 sponsor licences in the care sector had been revoked between July 2022 and December 2024, with more than 39,000 workers having been associated with those sponsors since October 2020.

The new arrangement therefore provides an important degree of protection for affected workers while they deal with the consequences of their employer losing its licence.

This does not mean the visa is automatically protected in every situation

An important point is that the new arrangement is limited. The Home Office guidance expressly says that the arrangement is temporary and subject to regular review. More importantly, the protection applies where the sole reason for cancellation is the revocation of the sponsor’s licence. If another cancellation ground applies, the Home Office must consider cancellation in the normal way.

For example, the guidance separately identifies circumstances in which a worker’s permission may be cancelled because they have ceased employment, changed jobs without the necessary immigration permission, or no longer meet relevant requirements. Therefore, affected workers should not interpret the new guidance as providing an unlimited or permanent right to remain in the UK regardless of their circumstances.

The wider background: major changes to care-worker immigration

The development comes against the backdrop of major changes to the UK’s immigration system for adult social care workers. In July 2025, the government announced that overseas recruitment for care workers would be closed, while transitional arrangements would allow certain people already in the UK to continue switching into the route for a limited period. The government also introduced wider changes to the Skilled Worker system, including raising the normal skill threshold to RQF Level 6.

The current Immigration Rules continue to contain transitional provisions for certain care workers and senior care workers already holding relevant permission. This makes the new sponsor-revocation guidance particularly relevant to people who are already in the UK under the Skilled Worker or Health and Care Worker routes.

What should affected care workers do?

Although the new guidance provides protection against cancellation solely because of sponsor licence revocation, affected workers should still take action.

A worker whose sponsor has lost its licence should establish:

1. Whether their sponsor’s licence has actually been revoked, rather than suspended or otherwise restricted.
2. Which SOC code appears on their immigration documentation and Certificate of Sponsorship.
3. Whether they continue to hold valid immigration permission.
4. Whether they have received any correspondence from the Home Office concerning cancellation or curtailment.
5. Whether they need to find a new licensed sponsor and make an application to update their immigration permission.

The GOV.UK guidance confirms that workers changing job or employer generally need to comply with the relevant immigration requirements, and the Health and Care Worker guidance states that a worker can apply to update their visa when changing employer.

A temporary safeguard, not a permanent immigration route

One of the most important aspects of the announcement is the wording “temporary arrangement.” The Home Office has not created a permanent exemption from the sponsor-licence rules for care workers. Instead, it has instructed caseworkers not to cancel qualifying workers’ permission where sponsor-licence revocation is the sole reason for cancellation. The guidance also states that the arrangement will be regularly reviewed. This means the position could change in the future, and workers affected by sponsor licence revocation should continue to monitor official Home Office guidance and take appropriate steps to regularise their employment and immigration position.

What this means in practice

The latest Home Office guidance provides an important distinction between the sponsor’s immigration compliance and the worker’s own immigration position. Where a care worker or senior care worker holds permission under the Skilled Worker or Health and Care Worker route and their sponsor’s licence is revoked, the worker should not have their permission cancelled for that reason alone under the new temporary arrangement. However, the protection is not absolute. Other grounds for cancellation can still apply, and the arrangement itself is subject to review.

For international care workers, the message is therefore significant but should be understood carefully: loss of a sponsor licence does not, by itself, automatically mean that qualifying care workers will have their existing immigration permission cancelled. The Home Office’s latest guidance is available on GOV.UK and should be checked for further updates because the arrangement is expressly temporary. Always seek help and assistance from a solicitor.