An A-rated sponsor licence is the default, top-tier compliance status the Home Office gives a UK employer that is authorised to sponsor migrant workers on routes such as the Skilled Worker visa. It lets you assign a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS – the electronic reference number a sponsored worker needs to apply for their visa) without restriction. If you have received a compliance letter, been warned that your licence may be downgraded, or simply want to understand what keeps a licence at A-rating, this article answers that question directly.
This Article covers what an A-rating means in practice, the duties that keep an employer at A-rating, how a downgrade to B-rating happens, and what a compliance “action plan” involves. It does not cover the initial sponsor licence application process, salary threshold calculations for individual roles, or the mechanics of assigning a specific CoS – those are separate questions, each with their own detailed answer.
Key Takeaways
An A-rated sponsor licence is the default status; only A-rated sponsors can assign new Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) without restriction.
A downgrade to B-rating follows relatively minor, fixable breaches - it is not the same as revocation.
A B-rated sponsor must complete a fixed, time-limited action plan, normally capped at three months, before A-rating can be restored.
Worker-related changes must be reported to UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) within 10 working days; organisational changes within 20 working days.
A sponsor licence no longer expires after four years. Since April 2024, most licences stay valid indefinitely provided the sponsor keeps meeting the duties below.
Failing to carry out a right to work check - not just a paperwork gap on one you did carry out — is treated as grounds to revoke a licence outright, not merely downgrade it.
Serious or repeated non-compliance can lead to suspension, then revocation, with a 12-month (or 24-month) bar on reapplying.
How Does the Home Office Decide Your Sponsor Rating?
UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI – the Home Office directorate that runs the sponsorship system) issues a sponsor licence to every organisation approved to employ migrant workers. Once granted, that licence carries a rating, and A-rating is the default: it is the only rating that lets an employer assign a new Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) without restriction.
There is no separate application for A-rating – every sponsor starts there. The rating exists purely as a compliance signal to UKVI, and to anyone checking the public register of licensed sponsors, that the organisation is currently meeting its sponsor duties. A rating only moves in one direction by itself: down. Moving back up to A-rating requires completing the action plan process explained below.
What Triggers a Downgrade From A-Rating to B-Rating?
UKVI’s published sponsor guidance states that it will downgrade a licence for “relatively minor breaches” that can be put right — not every failure is treated as grounds to revoke a licence outright. In practice, the most common triggers are:
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Failing to report a change to a sponsored worker's role, salary, or work location within the 10-working-day deadline
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Failing to report a change to Key Personnel or the organisation's structure within the 20-working-day deadline
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Gaps in the record-keeping evidence required under Appendix D of the sponsor guidance - including retained evidence of right to work checks that were carried out correctly (this is different from failing to carry out the check itself, which is treated far more seriously - see “Right to Work Checks” below)
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Weak evidence that a sponsored role is a genuine vacancy matching the job description on the CoS
Any circumstance listed in Annex C2 or Annex C3 of the sponsor guidance can lead UKVI to downgrade rather than revoke, where the breach is judged fixable.
What Happens During a Sponsor Licence Action Plan?
A B-rated sponsor cannot assign a CoS to a new recruit. To earn A-rating back, UKVI issues an action plan: a fixed, time-limited list of specific steps the sponsor must complete, capped at three months. A separate fee applies to the action plan itself, on top of any licence fee already paid.
During the action plan period, three restrictions apply at once. New workers cannot be sponsored. New branches or sponsored routes cannot be added. Existing sponsored workers already in post can normally still be extended, but only within the roles already sponsored before the downgrade.
At the end of the three months, UKVI checks compliance and one of three outcomes follows: the action plan is judged failed and the licence is revoked; new, unrelated issues are found and a further action plan (with a further fee) is issued; or every requirement has been met and A-rating is restored.
Worked Example: A Missed Reporting Deadline
A mid-sized employer relocates a sponsored worker to a different branch on a permanent basis — a change that must be reported to UKVI within 10 working days.
These figures are illustrative. UKVI’s actual decision on any specific case depends on the full compliance picture, not a single missed deadline viewed in isolation.
What Ongoing Duties Keep an Employer at A-Rating?
Right to Work Checks: Why This Duty Is Different
Right to work checks sit apart from the other duties in the table above, and it is worth being precise about why. Current Home Office sponsor guidance states, in terms: if a sponsor “fail[s] to carry out a right to work check, or any necessary follow-up checks,” it is “in breach of [its] sponsor duties and may be liable for a civil penalty under illegal working legislation.” The same paragraph continues: “If you are issued with a civil penalty, or otherwise fail to carry out the correct checks, we will normally revoke your licence.”
That is a direct route to revocation, not a downgrade to B-rating. It is a materially different risk from a paperwork gap on a check that was, in fact, carried out correctly – that narrower issue is a record-keeping matter (see the downgrade triggers above). Failing to do the check at all or failing to do a required follow-up check on a worker with time-limited permission, is not.
Beyond these duties, UKVI can carry out a compliance visit at any time – announced or unannounced. A compliance officer can inspect records, interview sponsored workers and recruiting staff and check right to work compliance across the whole workforce, not only sponsored employees. Being unable to produce the records above on demand is, on its own, treated as a compliance failure.
What Happens if a Licence Is Suspended or Revoked?
Suspension is an interim step while UKVI investigates a suspected breach. A suspended sponsor cannot assign a new CoS and is removed from the public register, but existing sponsored workers’ permission to stay is not automatically affected, and normal sponsor duties continue during the investigation.
Revocation is final. There is no right of appeal against a decision to revoke a sponsor licence. Once revoked, the organisation cannot reapply for 12 months – or 24 months if it is a second revocation. Sponsored workers already in post may have their permission curtailed, which is why a compliance failure at one employer can put an employee’s immigration status at risk through no fault of their own.
Frequently Asked Questions
An A-rated sponsor can assign new Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) without restriction. A B-rated sponsor has been downgraded for a fixable compliance breach and cannot sponsor new workers until it completes an action plan and regains A-rating.
Yes, in most cases. A B-rated sponsor can generally still assign a CoS to extend permission for workers already sponsored before the downgrade, but not to bring in new recruits until A-rating is restored.
Not necessarily on its own — a gap in the paperwork for a check you did carry out correctly is generally treated as a record-keeping issue. But failing to carry out the check itself, or a required follow-up check, is far more serious.
No, not for most licence types. Since April 2024, the Home Office removed the four-year renewal requirement, and most sponsor licences now remain valid for as long as the sponsor keeps meeting the eligibility and compliance requirements. Licences to sponsor Scale-up Workers or UK Expansion Workers are the exception and remain valid for four years.
UKVI can curtail sponsored workers’ permission to stay once a licence is revoked, typically giving them a short period to find a new sponsor or leave the UK. This makes licence compliance a workforce risk, not just a corporate one.
An action plan runs for a fixed period of up to three months. A-rating is restored only if UKVI is satisfied that every requirement in the action plan has been met by the end of that period.
Conclusion
If any of the triggers above sound familiar – a missed reporting deadline, a records gap, a Key Personnel change nobody logged with UKVI – the risk is not abstract. A downgrade to B-rating stops new sponsorship immediately, and a revoked licence puts every sponsored employee’s status at risk, not only the organisation’s. Restoring an A-rated sponsor licence after a downgrade means proving compliance under a fixed deadline, with no guarantee of success if the underlying gaps are not fully closed the first time. That is not a risk worth managing without specialist input, and a compliance review carried out before UKVI finds the gap is the difference between a quiet fix and a formal action plan.
Business Immigration Services — Sterling & Wells
Sterling & Wells’ Business Immigration Services support licensed sponsors with ongoing compliance: Sponsorship Management System (SMS) record audits, Key Personnel changes, reporting-duty tracking, and representation if a licence is downgraded or a compliance visit is scheduled.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute immigration advice. Your circumstances may alter the outcome. Speak to a qualified, OISC-regulated immigration adviser before acting.
