Sponsor licence action plans and B-ratings

A B-rating is a temporary downgrade for relatively minor breaches the Home Office thinks you can put right. While you are B-rated:

• you cannot assign a certificate of sponsorship (CoS), the electronic record a worker needs for a visa, to any new worker
• you cannot apply for a defined CoS for a Skilled Worker abroad (Skilled Worker guidance)
• you can still assign a CoS to a worker you sponsored before the downgrade who needs to extend on the same route
• you cannot add branches or new routes to the licence
• any automatic right to replace your authorising officer or key contact, or add level 1 users, is removed

Using a CoS for a new worker while B-rated is one of the mandatory reasons to revoke a licence.

A downgrade usually follows a finding that your processes are not good enough to meet your duties, for example missing records, or not handing over information you held when asked. The triggers come from the lists of breaches in the sponsor guidance, which the Home Office finds through checks such as a compliance visit.

Before downgrading you, the Home Office writes to say what it proposes and why. You then have 20 working days to reply in writing with evidence, and it aims to decide within 20 working days of your reply. It can also skip the B-rating and suspend or revoke straight away in more serious cases (sponsor guidance).

The plan only starts once you accept it and pay. The downgrade letter leaves you three choices:

1. Accept and pay the action plan fee through the "Action plan details" screen in the sponsor management system within the deadline. You stay licensed and the Home Office sends you the plan.
2. Decline and surrender the licence. This is only possible if you sponsor nobody, and you must return the signed declaration within the same deadline, or the licence is revoked.
3. Do nothing, in which case the licence is revoked.

The plan sets out specific steps, such as better record keeping, tighter control over the staff who assign certificates, or better links between branches so a worker who stops turning up is noticed. It also fixes how many certificates you may use for extensions while it runs.

Every plan is set for the same fixed 3 months, which the Home Office treats as the longest needed to put things right. At the end it carries out a further compliance check, normally only one during the plan. You can ask for that check early, but only if you are sure every step is done, because the result applies either way. There are three possible results:

• Every step met and no other concerns: your A-rating comes back, and your certificate allocation is reviewed so you can hire again.
• New problems found that the plan did not cover: a second action plan, with a second fee.
• Steps not met, or something more serious found: the licence is revoked.

A sponsor can be B-rated and on an action plan no more than twice in any rolling 4-year period. The 4 years are counted from the date the licence was first granted, then in each 4-year block after that. If you would qualify for a third downgrade inside the same period, the licence is revoked instead (sponsor guidance).