6 Steps To Pass A Home Office Inspection

A Home Office inspection can be a cause of real concern for organisations. The Home Office has powers to investigate employers to ensure they are meeting their obligations under the prevention of illegal working regime and if they are licenced sponsors, to ensure they are meeting their sponsor licence compliance duties.

While immigration compliance may not be a daily concern for many employers, it can be business-critical to pass a Home Office inspection. Allegations of illegal working or non-compliance with immigration obligations leave employers open to substantial fines, loss of their sponsor licence and workers’ visas being curtailed.

With so much at stake, we look at what you can do to improve your chances of having a successful Home Office inspection and avoid the consequences of breaching your duties.

What is a Home Office inspection?

The Home Office uses site inspections – also referred to as visits, assessments and audits – to gather further information before a decision is made in a number of scenarios, including where:

Home Office representatives can attend premises on a prearranged or unannounced basis and during the inspection, request access to personnel records and interview employees such as HR and migrant workers.

What if the Home Office alleges compliance breaches?

In the event the Home Office identifies issues or compliance issues or breaches as part of the inspection, they can take enforcement action against your organisation.

If the visit was a pre-licence assessment, your sponsor licence application may be refused and your application fee lost. You will then need to address the breaches and make a new application – adding further unwanted expense and time to the licence application process.

If the inspection takes place while you have a licence, compliance breaches can result in enforcement measures, depending on the severity of the breaches. Minor licence breaches could result in your licence being downgraded, or more severe breaches could result in sponsor licence suspension or even revocation. For the licence to be reinstated or upgraded, you will usually need to pay for a Home Office action plan which you have to follow to show you have rectified the issues.

You do not need to be a sponsor licence to be subject to an immigration compliance inspection. Under the prevention of illegal working regime, all UK employers must meet obligations to ensure all of their workforce has the right to work by carrying out prescribed checks. If the Home Office is not satisfied that your organisation is meeting these duties, you can face a civil penalty of up to £20,000 per breach, as well as potential criminal charges if it is established that you knowingly employed an illegal worker.

How to pass a Home Office inspection

Immigration compliance should be an everyday concern for employers. The Home Office expects personnel records to be maintained and kept up to date, and ready for inspection at any one time.

Following these six steps will help your organisation take a proactive approach to immigration compliance, so that in the event of an inspection, you are match-fit.

1. Check your HR policies & procedures

You should have specific HR policies relating to sponsored worker recruitment, management and record-keeping. Policies should provide guidelines, standards and processes to ensure your operations are consistent and compliant.

While your operations may be correct and compliant, it is hugely helpful for a Home Office inspection to have it all official and written down.

Ensure specific areas of compliance risk are covered. For example, what is your process for foreign nationals with time-limited permission to work in the UK? Failure to carry out such follow-up right to work checks risks allegations of illegal working.

You should also be able to show the policies are accessible and understood by your organisation. For example, as part of your onboarding process, you could ensure all sponsored workers sign a document confirming they understand their duty to inform on reportable events.

Remember also that your policies will need updating as and when Home Office policy and legislation changes; these updated documents will need communicating to the organisation.

2. Train your staff

Appropriate training of relevant staff involved in your organisation’s immigration compliance processes is essential. This will go beyond the HR function, and should include anyone involved in recruiting, onboarding and managing sponsored workers across the organisation.

For example, as part of your pre-employment checks, you are expected to take reasonable steps to ensure the identity documents submitted are genuine and that the person presenting for work is the same person the documentation relates to. All personnel involved in this onboarding process should be trained to perform these checks correctly.

Employers will want to avoid a scenario where the central HR function operates with best practice processes, while other branches or sites fall short of the required standards. For example, if a site manager recruits for a sponsored role without meeting the relevant salary requirements, or without following compliant document checks, the organisation risks enforcement action, even if the organisation has compliant policies and procedures in place.

Another common area of risk is sponsored workers’ working hours and locations. Sponsored workers have to stay within the working time parameters of what is permissible under the organisation’s licence, and sponsored workers’ place of work must adhere to the locations recorded on the SMS. Line managers and supervisors must be aware of, and comply with, these restrictions.

Ongoing and effective training will demonstrate your commitment to developing compliance knowledge and skills across your organisation in the event of any compliance issues.

3. Mind the gaps!

It’s not uncommon to see differences in working practices within one organisation, particularly between head office and individual care homes. But if those responsible for hiring at a local level are exercising discretion in respect of immigration compliance, or are not performing Right to Work checks correctly or at all, the business as a whole will be put at risk of enforcement action.

Likewise, human error isn’t an excuse for non-compliance. Be clear on roles and responsibilities in your organisation, particularly in relation to key personnel, and formalise these details. This will ensure there are no gaps in duties and the tasks to be carried out, and should address scenarios such as planned and unplanned absence cover.

Also remember that if one of your key personnel leaves the organisation, or is on a period of extended leave, they will need to be replaced and the SMS updated accordingly.

4. Use mock audits

Practice makes perfect! Internal audits for immigration compliance are extremely worthwhile exercises. Cover the same areas as an official Home Office inspection would: check policies, review records and carry out mock interviews with the staff most likely to be interviewed by the Home Office. You want to identify and address potential areas of non-compliance and risk.

We are frequently asked to carry out immigration audits to help identify areas for improvement, and provide coaching for interviewees to make the process less daunting.

It’s also helpful for management to regularly conduct informal document spot-checks across its network.

5. Keep everything

The Home Office is looking for evidence of a sustained approach and consistent standards when managing sponsor licence documentation. Also ensure your record-keeping extends to the full degree of the requirements.

Inconsistent quality of personnel records can expose the organisation to allegations of non-compliance. The Home Office inspection is centred heavily on documentation and evidence. Demonstrate your willingness and efforts to comply by keeping records, particularly of any related training and internal audits.

If the Home Office does find an error, but they can see you are trying to comply with your obligations, this could help protect you from enforcement action.

Your HR processes must also ensure retention of leavers’ documents for up to two years after they have left your business. The Home Office has the right to request employee documentation for up to two years after the employee has left your employment. We often see instances where personnel records have been deleted or destroyed before this date. This is not accepted practice and would be regarded as a breach of your right to work duties.

6. Be proactive

A Home Office inspection can happen at any time – at short notice or even unannounced. If you approach immigration compliance as integral to your everyday activity, and not just something to aim for in the run up to an audit or licence application, it will take the pressure off should the Home Office come calling. As a licensed sponsor, updating your SMS is a mandatory requirement. This includes notifying of changes of circumstances such as salary band changes, leavers, switchers and changes in work location. Managing your SMS should be a daily concern. The Home Office expects your SMS information to be a snapshot of your business at any one time, meaning it has to be accurate and kept up to date.

Need assistance?

DavidsonMorris are UK business immigration specialists. For expert advice on preparing for a Home Office inspection, or any aspects of immigration compliance, including training, auditing and sponsor licence management, contact us.

Home Office inspection FAQs

Last updated: 1 July 2023