Immigration Compliance and Preventing Illegal Employment

The law on preventing illegal working is set out in sections 15 to 25 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 (known as the 2006 Act).

These rules came into force on 29 February 2008. They replaced the previous rules under section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 (known as the 1996 Act).

Strengthen the Government’s controls on tackling illegal working by making it easier for the UKBA to take action against employers who use illegal workers

Under the 2006 Act you have a duty to prevent illegal working by carrying out document checks to confirm if a person has the right to work in the UK.

You should check and keep copies of original, acceptable documents before someone starts working for you. If a person has a time limit on their stay then you should carry out repeat checks at least once every 12 months.

If a person has a restriction on the type of work they can do and, or, the amount of hours they can work, then you must not employ them in breach of these restrictions.

The UKBA assess five individual areas of your HR systems which are:

• Area 1: Monitoring immigration status and preventing illegal employment
• Area 2: Maintaining migrant contact details
• Area 3: Recordkeeping
• Area 4: Migrant tracking and monitoring
• Area 5: General duties and practices

You must:

• Have a system in place for monitoring the immigration status of the migrants you sponsor;
• Keep copies of their passport, immigration status documents, pages showing leave stamps, and biometric residence permits (where applicable). You must keep up-to-date with any changes to their immigration status;
• Be able to demonstrate that you have systems in place that will minimise the risk of sponsoring or employing a migrant who does not have the right to work or study in the UK.

You must:

• Report the following information or events to us, within 10 working days.
• If any migrants who fail to enrol within the specified enrolment period, or fail to start work when they were supposed to;
• Anyone who has had 10 days of consecutive unauthorised absence (or in the case of sponsored students miss 10 consecutive expected contacts);
• Anyone you have dismissed, has ceased their studies or you cease to sponsor;

You must:

• Have a system for keeping the required documents listed earlier for each individual you are sponsoring to work or study in the UK;
• Not pay a sponsored migrant by cash or cheque (where applicable);
• Ensure that any applicable resident labour market test has been conducted in line with the sponsor guidance;
• Ensure that you only issue certificates of sponsorship (CoS) or confirmations for acceptance of studies (CAS) in line with the rules explained within the sponsor guidance; and
• Report any changes to a sponsored migrants situation through the correct channels and within the timescales described within the sponsor guidance.
• The UKBA test to see you have the relevant systems in place and will also test how robust your systems are.

You must:

• Keep a history of the contact details for anyone that you sponsor, which must be an electronic or written record of:
• Their UK residential address
• Their landline telephone number and
• Their mobile telephone number
• You must also have a system for ensuring that the details are always up-to-date.

• To make sure that you are complying with the immigration laws and sponsor duties you must ensure that:
• Key personnel ('level 1 user', 'key contact' and 'authorising officer') are permanently based in the UK and notify us of any changes to key personnel;
• Level 2 users do not share sponsor management system (SMS) passwords;
• Any sector specific requirements detailed in the sponsor guidance are adhered to;
• Certificates of sponsorship (CoS) or confirmations of acceptance for study (CAS) have been issued in line with the sponsor guidance;

The UKBA will rate care providers HR systems and compliance from 1 to 3 as follows:

1. You meet all of the criteria or are fully compliant.
2. You only meet some of the criteria or are partially compliant.
3. You do not meet any of the criteria or are non-compliant.

Aston Brooke has developed a bespoke case management system to cater for all the requirements under the Sponsor Guidance as set out above. Employers should be aware the onus has been pushed firmly on them to comply with all the regulations. Failure of compliance will result in a downgrading of your rating in conjunction with unlimited fines and up to 2 years imprisonment.

In order to make the transition to the introduction of Tier 2 and the Sponsorship Management Scheme more user friendly, Aston Brooke is assisting Employers by offering a complete one-stop package comprising of the high-tech on-line case management system and also by undertaking full compliance checks prior to an application for a licence being made. The on-line case management system is the first of its kind which is specifically designed for Sponsored Employers.

If you have received your log in details please click below:

Aston Brooke Sponsorship Management System
If you have not registered to the system please click here
If you wish to apply for your Sponsor Licence please click here

The UKBA will undertake a compliance audit once providers forward their sponsor license applications.

The purpose of the audit is to ensure that sponsors are compliant when employing overseas staff.

The audit will involve a detailed dissection of all your HR data/systems, payroll, status of all overseas staff and private interviews with overseas staff.

Aston Brooke provides a Pre-Compliance Audit to care providers in order to make them fully compliant with the UKBA regulations on employing overseas staff. The pre-audit would ensure that employers are apprised of the requirements for an "A" rating. The audit will encompass the following:

• Checking passports of all employees (EU and overseas staff)
• Checking the leave to remain and visas endorsed prior to and after arriving in the UK (overseas staff only)
• Any unauthorised changes of employment relating to existing work permit holders
• Permission to work status for all overseas staff
• Checking all qualifications and experience of overseas staff
• Track any changes in circumstances of overseas staff
• Registration with relevant bodies of all overseas staff
• Validate any details relating to expiration of visas/leave to remain
• Compiling the portfolio for the care provider to become authorised as a sponsor
• Reporting all changes to the UK Border Agency as Level 1 users
• Iindication of the certificates to be applied from the UKBA
• All other work to ensure compliance is achieved

The above list is non-exhaustive. Aston Brooke will also be available for any compliance visits arranged by the UKBA on site should it become necessary. The completion of the pre-audit will provide a clear picture to Employers on their internal HR procedures and sometimes the results are striking.

Please contact us at 02034754321 if you require a pre-compliance audit or any other assistance with your sponsor licence requirements or click on the quick contact ↑ link.