Sponsor employers must tell Home Office if a sponsored worker’s, e.g. skilled worker or Global Business Mobility, normal work location (as recorded on their CoS) changes.
This includes where: the worker is, or will be, working at a different branch of your organisation, or a different client’s site, not previously recorded on their CoS, or when the worker is, or will be, working remotely from home on a permanent or full-time basis (with little or no requirement to physically attend a workplace).
There are additional actions you need to take if a worker will be moving to work for a branch or related organisation (such as a subsidiary, parent company or sister company of yours) not currently registered as a branch on your licence. We explain this in more detail towards the end of this article.
Sponsored workers and hybrid working model
Home Office recognise that many organisations have adopted a ‘hybrid working’ model, where their workers work remotely (from either their home or another remote site, such as a work hub space) on a regular basis, as well as regularly attending a ‘traditional’ work location (such as one or more of your offices or branches, or a client site).
You do not need to tell Home Office if a sponsored worker is moving to a hybrid working pattern but you must continue to report any changes to their main office work location, or of any new client sites, if applicable, and maintain suitable records of your sponsored workers’ working patterns.
You (your Key Personnel) must, however, tell Home Office, via your SMS account, if any sponsored worker is, or will be, working entirely remotely, with little or no requirement to attend your premises or a client site (a contractual home worker). In these cases, Home Office reserve the right to ask you to explain why you need to sponsor the worker to come to the UK if (for example) they could work remotely from their home country.
Day to day changes in work location
You do not need to report day-to-day changes in work location (for example, if a worker occasionally works at a different branch or site, or from home). You need only tell us about changes to their regular working patterns.
Working at a different branch or relating organisation
You must tell Home Office (within 10 working days of the change) if a sponsored worker moves to a different registered branch to the one recorded on their CoS.
If you wish to move a sponsored worker to work for a branch that is not yet registered on your licence, you must make a request to add it to your licence. The worker can start working for that branch before it has been added to your licence, provided all of the following conditions are met:
• the relationship between you and the branch meets the definition of ‘common ownership or control’ in section GBM2 of Sponsor a Global Business Mobility worker
• you have, and will continue to have, full responsibility for the worker’s duties, functions and outcomes or outputs
• you have notified us of the worker’s change of work location within 10 working days of the change
• you have made a request to add the relevant branch to your licence within 20 working days of the date the worker started working for that branch
Important to note:
You should be aware that if the request to add the branch to your licence is rejected, you must not continue to sponsor the worker to work at that branch (but they can continue to work for you or any branch currently registered on your licence).
If they continue to work for the unregistered branch, they will be in breach of their conditions and may have their permission cancelled. Home Office is also likely to take compliance action against you.
Another important point to note is that adding a branch to your sponsor licence has a standard Home Office processing time of up to 18 weeks. You must also always bear in mind that Home Office processing times are not guaranteed. Therefore, strategic planning is important for your business and migrant workers’ compliance.