On March 5, 2024, the UK government released an update to the Workers and Temporary Workers Guidance for Sponsors Part 3: Sponsor Duties and Compliance to clarify reporting requirements on hybrid and remote working.
On hybrid working, the guidance now states:
“We 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 no longer need to tell us 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 must, however, tell us, 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, we 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.
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”
The guidance has also been updated with a new procedure for sponsors notifying the Home Office of the dates when an offshore worker arrives in UK waters at the beginning of the job they are being sponsored for, and when they leave UK waters at the end of the job they are being sponsored for. These notifications for sponsored offshore workers must now be made via the online Sponsorship Management System (SMS), rather than via email.
The guidance has also been updated to reflect the previously announced change that sponsors will no longer need to renew their sponsor licence:
“If your licence is due to expire on or after 6 April 2024, you no longer need to renew your licence. We will publish further information about this change in a future update to this guidance.”
Erickson Insights and Analysis
Erickson Immigration Group will continue to monitor developments and share updates as more news is available. Please contact your employer or EIG attorney if you have questions about anything we’re reporting above or case-specific questions.