Immigration update – April 2025 

Illegal working crackdown within the gig economy 

The Home Office has now announced that businesses employing individuals in the gig economy will now be legally obligated to verify that anyone working on their behalf is eligible to work in the UK, aligning them with standard employer/employee responsibilities. These essential checks, which only take a few minutes, confirm a person’s immigration status and their legal right to work in the UK. 

For the first time, employment checks will be expanded to include businesses that hire gig economy and zero-hours contract workers in industries such as construction, food delivery, beauty services, and courier operations. Prior to the rule changes, businesses who were using these flexible arrangements were not legally required to check the right to work status of these particular workers. 

Businesses that fail to conduct these checks will be subject to the same severe penalties that apply to those employing illegal workers in conventional roles. These include fines of up to £60,000 per illegal worker identified, potential business closures, director disqualifications, and prison sentences of up to five years. 

Tackling illegal working is a key element of the Government’s strategy to reinforce the immigration system, reintroduce strict enforcement of the immigration rules, and disrupt people smugglers who lure migrants with false promises of employment in the United Kingdom. 

If you have any concerns in relation to these changes and how it may affect your organisation, please do not hesitate to get in touch.  

Clarification on fees which can be clawed back 

In their updated guidance (Workers and Temporary Workers – guidance for sponsors part 1: apply for a licence) published on 9 April 2025, the Home Office has confirmed which immigration related fees can be subject to clawback arrangement with an employee. 

The guidance confirms as follows: 

“You are responsible for paying the sponsorship fees listed above. If you are granted a licence, we will normally revoke your licence if you recoup, or attempt to recoup, by any means, the following fees from a worker you are sponsoring: 

• the Skilled Worker sponsor licence fee (including the fee for adding that route to your existing licence), and any associated administrative costs, where you recoup, or attempt to recoup, that fee or those costs on or after 31 December 2024 
   

• the sponsor licence fee on any other route (including the fee for adding that route to your existing licence), and any associated administrative costs, where you recoup, or attempt to recoup, that fee or those costs on or after 9 April 2025 
   

• the Certificate of Sponsorship fee, and any associated administrative costs, for a Skilled Worker, where that Certificate was assigned on or after 31 December 2024 
   

• the Certificate of Sponsorship fee, and any associated administrative costs, for a worker sponsored on any of the following routes, where that Certificate was assigned on or after 9 April 2025: 
  • any of the Global Business Mobility routes 
  • Minister of Religion 
  • International Sportsperson 
  • Scale-up 
  • Seasonal Worker  

• the Immigration Skills Charge for a Skilled Worker or a Senior or Specialist Worker, where you are required to pay this” 

The guidance further defines ‘associated administrative costs’ as meaning any costs incurred by a sponsoring organisation to obtain, use or maintain their licence and includes but is not limited to: 

• “fees for premium services or priority services for sponsor licence applications, changes of circumstances requests, or assigning, requesting or applying for a Certificate of Sponsorship 
   

• fees for legal advice related to applying for, using or maintaining your sponsor licence, or assigning, requesting or applying for a Certificate of Sponsorship 
   

• immigration advice or immigration services provided by a third party to a sponsored worker where the worker did not have a genuine choice in whether, or how, to obtain such advice or services, or where you provide such advice or services to the worker directly” 

If you have any concerns in relation to the above either in respect of staff loans or clawbacks which have already taken place for immigration costs, or future potential clawbacks, please get in touch and we would be happy to discuss this further with you. 

Final roll out of the Electronic Travel Authorisation scheme 

On 2 April the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme was expanded for a final time to include nationals from EU, EEA and Switzerland. 

The full list of nationalities from the following locations is now as follows: 

This therefore means that anyone on the above list must apply for an ETA in order to travel to the United Kingdom and should factor this in as an additional procedural step and cost (£16) when planning a trip to the United Kingdom, whether that is for travel or transit. Everyone travelling to the United Kingdom requires an ETA, including babies and children.  

Applications can be submitted via the UK ETA app or online via the GOV.UK website and although applications are usually processed within minutes, delays may be encountered and should be prepared for. 

Updated Certificate of Sponsorship information required for health and care route 

The updated Home Office guidance (Workers and Temporary Workers: sponsor a skilled worker) published on 9 April 2025 was updated to include additional information which must now be stated on a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) in order to meet regulation requirements. 

This change applies specifically to occupation codes for Care Workers and Senior Care Worker (6135 and 6136) and the following information must now be included in an application or request: 

• The working location, or locations of the job the worker is being sponsored for. 

• Confirmation of the sponsor’s active registration with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). 

Sponsors who are not registered with the CQC must provide a reason for this on the CoS. 

Changes to definition of ‘small’ and ‘large’ organisation size 

The Home Office has amended its definition of which organisations are deemed to be a ‘small’ organisation as of 6 April 2025. 

The previous guidance stated that you are usually a small sponsor if at least two of the following apply: 

• Your annual turnover is £10.2 million or less. 

• Your total assets are worth £5.1 million or less. 

• You have 50 employees or fewer. 

Under the updated guidance, in order to qualify as a small sponsor you must meet at least two of the following criteria: 

• Your annual turnover is £15 million or less. 

• Your total assets are worth £7.5 million or less. 

• You have 50 employees or fewer. 

Existing sponsor licence holders who are registered on the Sponsor Management System as a ‘large sponsor’ and no longer meet this requirement and instead should be registered as a ‘small sponsor’ should submit this amendment request on the Sponsor Management System within 20 working days.  

Small sponsors will be required to pay a reduced Immigration Skills Charge fee of £364 per year of requested visa when supporting a Skilled Worker or Global Business Mobility individual, whereas large sponsors will be prompted to pay £1,000 per year of visa length for the Immigration Skills Charge.  

If you need any assistance with reporting the change on your sponsorship licence or have any concerns or queries as to whether you meet the definition of a small sponsor, then please do not hesitate to get in touch.