United Kingdom: Significant Increase in Employer Sponsor License Revocations

Between July 2024 and June 2025, UK authorities revoked 1,948 sponsor licences for employers to bring in foreign workers. This is a substantial increase on recent years: in 2023-2024, 937 licences were revoked; in 2022-2023 the figure was 247; and in 2021-2022 it was 261. Adult social care, hospitality, retail, and construction were some of the sectors with the highest levels of revocations. Licence revocations occurred for several reasons including, among others: underpayment of staff; facilitating the entry of individuals to circumvent immigration rules; and failing to provide promised work. Additionally, illegal working arrests increased by 51 percent year-on-year; while deportations of individuals without legal immigration status increased 13 percent in the same period. UK authorities cited improved data sharing across government agencies as helping improve auditing and compliance outcomes, resulting in more employers being found liable for irregularities.    

Fragomen can assist employers with their sponsor licence compliance obligations, for example with our UK ComplianceHub. For information on ComplianceHub, contact [email protected]. This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].