Under a new Home Office requirement, UK sponsor licence holders must now notify when a sponsored worker is being, or will be, engaged under a hybrid working pattern on a more permanent basis.
During COVID, the Home Office placed no obligation on sponsors to inform the Home Office when a sponsored worker was working remotely from home. This concession has now been brought to an end and Section 3 of the sponsor guidance has been updated with a specific reporting obligation in relation to hybrid workers.
The requirement arises where the sponsored worker’s place of work, as stipulated on their Certificate of Sponsorship, changes in relation to their regular working pattern due to:
- the worker working at a different site, branch or office of the organisation, or
- the worker working at a different, previously undeclared client site, or
- the worker working remotely from home on a permanent or full-time basis, or
- the worker moving to a hybrid working pattern.
Sponsors do not need to report occasional changes in work location.
‘Hybrid working’ is defined within the guidance as “where the worker will work remotely on a regular and planned basis from their home or another address, such as a work hub space, that is not a client site or an address listed on your licence, in addition to regularly attending one or more of your offices or branches, or a client site”.
Sponsors will be required to notify of the arrangement on the Sponsor Management System within ten working days of the change taking effect.
Author
Gill Laing is a qualified Legal Researcher & Analyst with niche specialisms in Law, Tax, Human Resources, Immigration & Employment Law.
Gill is a Multiple Business Owner and the Managing Director of Prof Services - a Marketing Agency for the Professional Services Sector.
