Geocare Services Limited, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for Home Department [2025] EWHC 3446 (Admin)

“Removal from the Register of Licensed Sponsors: I am writing to inform you that we have revoked your sponsor licence with immediate effect, as we are satisfied on the balance of probabilities that you are failing to comply with your sponsor duties: General Sponsor Duties 1. You applied for a sponsor licence on 30/3/2021, and this was granted on 21/05/2021. 2. Our records show that you are currently sponsoring migrant staff. 3. Paragraph L3.11 of the Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors part 1 states: We will continually monitor your ability and willingness to comply with your duties. We will make regular checks with HMRC to ensure you are paying your sponsored workers appropriate and we may also conduct a compliance check. 4. HMRC data shows that you have sponsored workers that are being paid less than what is stated on their Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS). 5. To verify this data, we emailed you on 10/09/2025 and 06/10/2025 to request the following information: -Contracts of employment for ALL of your sponsored staff. These should be signed and dated. -Corporate/business bank statement(s) for ALL business accounts used by your organisation covering the last 6 months. These must include the bank account in which you pay your employee’s salary into, must include the logo, statement date, the holder’s name/address, sort code, account number and balances. -If you are paying your sponsored workers via an external payroll system, where wages appear in bulk payments. Please provide a monthly breakdown of each sponsored workers salary payment, covering the last 6 months. -Payslips for ALL of your sponsored workers for the last 6 months. -National insurance numbers for ALL of your sponsored workers. -Full Pay Run Report/Payroll Summary or Real Time Information (RTI), confirming Gross & Net pay and NI & Tax deductions for ALL your sponsored workers in the last 6 months. -If you are using a prepaid card such as FOREX, evidence that you have made payments onto each of the sponsored workers’ cards for the last 6 months. -If you are paying a sponsored worker by cheque, evidence that this has been paid into the worker’s own bank account for the last 6 months. 6. You responded on 13/10/2025 and 14/10/2025 with the following: • List of staff members and NI numbers • Staff availability rota for 09/2025 • April 2025 payment structure and transportation cost deduction • Car rental invoices • Transportation deduction • Bank statements for the following periods: 01/03/2025 to 01/04/2025, 02/05/2025 to 30/05/2025,31/05/2025 to 01/07/2025, 02/07/2025 to 01/08/2025, 02/08/2025 to 01/09/2025, 02/09/2025 to 01/10/2025 • Payslips for March, April, May, June, August, September 2025 • Shell invoices • Payroll activities for period April-September 2025 • Contracts of employment 7. Our records show that you are sponsoring the following migrants, and their Certificates of Sponsorship show the following salaries: Pamilerin Sunday Babatope, £22000 per annum, based on 39h per week (equivalent to £1833 per month) Sophia Benjamin Allison, £20962 per annum, based on 37.5h per week (equivalent to £1747 per month) 8. According to the payslip information that you have provided, Pamilerin Sunday Babatope was paid the following amount for the months of March, April, May, June, August and September 2025: March – £1,275.56 April – £1,037.25 May – £1,504.88 June – £894.38 August – £1,276.93 September – £1,077.53 9. Moreover, Sophia Benjamin Allison was paid the following amount for the months of March, April, August and September 2025: March – £1,570.14 April – £1,715.50 August – £1,098.90 September – £1,559.83 10. It is clear from the payslip information listed above, that the migrant workers have been paid a reduced salary than as specified on their CoS.”

“11. Paragraph L3.12 of the Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors part 1 states: If you fail to comply with your duties, or become no longer eligible or suitable to hold a sponsor licence, we may take action against you, including: • downgrading your licence rating – see Sponsor ratings for further information • reducing the number of CoS you can assign (or setting your limit to zero) • suspending your licence while we investigate further • revoking your licence • in serious cases, reporting you to the police or other relevant authorities. 12. We note that you stated the following in your response to our compliance check: “We have been having a lot of dialogs with certain staff members due to their early disruption of shift, and this has been going on for a considerable number of times, these set of individuals will call the office line and send messages stating that they can only work Tuesdays and Thursday, as we can’t force them to work it is against their human right, when we say it is contractual agreement set. When they care called to work, they will refuse to pick up their phone or and accept the care calls on their Rota app. We have already informed staff that we will be updating the Home Office of this trend. Starting reporting these changes immediately.” “We had several meetings with staff who are not driving on how to go about this constant lateness to work there by raising numerous safeguarding issues for Geocare Services Limited with Staffordshire County Council and the only solution was to get vehicle from Enterprise. With regards to deduction, it was an agreement for transportation, because staff only pay 5% -6% while Geocare pay the remaining 94% of the cost which is about £5158.00 per month. There are also staff who took out loans from Geocare Services Limited, sometimes is even more for the company.” 13. We refer you to paragraph S4.30 of the Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors part 2, which states: S4.30. You must stop sponsoring the worker if their revised salary no longer meets any salary, hourly or going rate requirement for the job or the route on which they are being sponsored, or the change is otherwise not permitted by the Immigration Rules or sponsor guidance. You must tell us you have stopped sponsoring the worker via your SMS account (or Sponsor UK account if you are a PB1 sponsor). 14. The exceptions for paragraph S4.30 are listed under paragraph S4.31: S4.31. You do not have to stop sponsoring a worker if you reduce their salary and any of the following exceptions apply (although you must tell us via your SMS account or Sponsor UK account that you have reduced the worker’s salary): • the reduction coincides with a temporary reduction in the worker’s hours, or a phased return to work, for individual health reasons, provided: • this is supported by an occupational health assessment; and • the reduction does not result in the hourly rate falling below any hourly rate requirement which applied when the person obtained their most recent grant of permission 15. We acknowledge the reasons you have provided for the reduced hours and salary deductions however these reasons do not meet the requirements of S4.31. 16. In view of the above, as confirmed by HMRC checks and by the information by yourself, you have failed to comply with your sponsor duties. 17. As per Annex C1.aa of the sponsor guidance where it states such circumstances where we will revoke your licence: You pay a sponsored worker less than you said you would on the worker’s CoS, and; • you have not notified us of the change in salary; • or the reduction is not otherwise permitted by the Immigration Rules or the Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors. Decision 18. Sponsorship is a privilege not a right. The sponsorship system reflects that those who benefit directly from migration (employers, education providers or other organisations who bring in overseas nationals) should play their part in ensuring the immigration system is not abused. Significant trust is placed in sponsors, and they must ensure they comply with immigration law and wider UK law, and not behave in a manner that is not conducive to the wider public good. 19. Migrants on a Skilled Worker visa have no recourse to public funds and are consequently reliant on their salary, as determined by the immigration rules. It is therefore crucial that a sponsor ensures the welfare of the workers they choose to sponsor by paying the agreed salary. 20. We always take into consideration the potential impact revocation may have on a sponsor and consideration is always given to re-rating a sponsor licence to allow a sponsor to demonstrate full compliance with their sponsor duties if appropriate. We have considered the possibility of downgrading your licence and issuing you with an action plan. However, as already stated, you have acted in contravention of Annex C1 aa) of the Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors part 3. Downgrading your licence is not appropriate due to the seriousness of your non-compliance with your sponsor duties. 21. Annex C2 of the Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors part 3 states: We may downgrade or suspend your licence first while we consider the matter, but we reserve the right to revoke your licence immediately without downgrading or suspending it. For further information, see sections C8, C9 and C10 of this document. 22. As a result, your sponsor licence has been revoked. There is no right of appeal against this decision. 23. Please note that from the date of this letter you are no longer licensed to continue to sponsor employees or issue further CoS. Paragraphs C10.10 to C10.15 of the Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors part 3 provide information relating to your existing sponsored employee(s). 24. Whilst you can no longer recruit sponsored workers under the Work routes of the Points Based System, you can continue to recruit UK nationals, as well as EEA and non-EEA nationals that have the right to work in the UK. The revocation of the licence does not stop a business from trading. …. 26. As per C10.16 of the sponsor guidance: Once your licence has been revoked, you cannot make a further application for a sponsor licence until at least 12 months have passed since the date we notified you of the revocation. This is known as a ‘cooling-off’ period and may be longer than 12 months in some circumstances (for example, where the revocation was due to certain civil penalties or criminal convictions). If you do make an application before the cooling-off period has passed, it will be refused. The only exception to this is if your licence was revoked in error. If this happens, we will contact you to arrange for it to be reinstated.”

"4. Under the Immigration Rules, made under powers vested in the SSHD by s.3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971, foreign nationals may enter the United Kingdom as workers if sponsored by an employer. The SSHD is responsible for awarding licences to employers who may then grant certificates of sponsorship to workers as permitted by the licence. The scheme provides a way of addressing skill shortages in the labour market and a fast track for entry into the country for those individuals who are sponsored. It plays an important role in the national economy – we were told that there are currently over 115,000 sponsors in the UK including just under 9,000 in the social care sector alone. The scheme is heavily dependent on trust and there is plainly the potential for abuse. The SSHD has to ensure and enforce compliance with the scheme as part of her overall management of immigration. 5. The provisions governing the sponsorship scheme are set out in non-statutory guidance, the legal basis for which was described by Lord Sumption in R (New London College) v SSHD [2013] UKSC 51, [2013] 1 WLR 2358 at paragraph 28-29 in these terms: "28. …. the statutory power of the Secretary of State to administer the system of immigration control must necessarily extend to a range of ancillary and incidental administrative powers not expressly spelt out in the Act, including the vetting of sponsors. 29. The Immigration Act does not prescribe the method of immigration control to be adopted. It leaves the Secretary of State to do that, subject to her laying before Parliament any rules that she prescribes as to the practice to be followed for regulating entry into and stay in the United Kingdom. Different methods of immigration control may call for more or less elaborate administrative infrastructure. It cannot have been Parliament's intention that the Secretary of State should be limited to those methods of immigration control which required no other administrative measures apart from the regulation of entry into or stay in the United Kingdom. If the Secretary of State is entitled (as she plainly is) to prescribe and lay before Parliament rules for the grant of leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom which depend upon the migrant having a suitable sponsor, then she must also be entitled to take administrative measures for identifying sponsors who are and remain suitable, even if these measures do not themselves fall within section 3(2) of the Act'."

"(1) The essence of the system is that the Secretary of State imposes 'a high degree of trust' in sponsors granted … licences in implementing and policing immigration policy … (2) The authority to assign a (CoS …)is a privilege which carries great responsibility: the sponsor is expected to carry out its responsibilities 'with all the rigour and vigilance of the immigration control authorities'. … (3) The Sponsor 'must maintain its own records assiduously'. ... (4) The emphasis is on 'certainty in place of discretion, on detail rather than broad guidance' … (5) The grant of the CoS by a sponsor is a very significant step… (6) The SSHD does not need to wait until there has been breach of immigration control caused by the acts or omission of a sponsor before suspending or revoking the sponsorship, but it can, and … should, take such steps if [she] has reasonable grounds for suspecting that a breach of immigration control might occur …. (7) The primary judgment about the appropriate response to breaches by licence holders is that of the Secretary of State for the Home Department. The role of the Court is simply supervisory. The Secretary of State for the Home Department is entitled to maintain 'a fairly high index of suspicion' and a 'light trigger' in deciding when and with what level of firmness she should act …. (8) The courts should respect the experience and expertise of the Secretary of State for the Home Department when reaching conclusions as to a sponsor's compliance with the Guidance, which is vitally necessary to ensure that there is effective immigration control …. (9) The Secretary of State for the Home Department has stringent powers to suspend or revoke a sponsor's licence if she becomes concerned that a sponsor is not complying with its obligations … (10) There is a clear need in some circumstances for the Secretary of State for the Home Department to invoke their powers where there is a risk that the sponsor might not be complying with its duties provided of course that the Secretary of State for the Home Department complies with its public law duties…. (11) The expertise and experience of the Secretary of State for the Home Department in being able to detect the possibility that a sponsor might not be or be at risk of not complying with its duties is something that the court must and does respect because, unlike the Secretary of State for the Home Department, courts do not have this critically important experience or expertise…. (12) An entity which holds a sponsor licence has substantial duties to ensure that the rules relating to immigration control are adhered to strictly and properly, such that if the Secretary of State for the Home Department were concerned that a sponsor is not complying with those duties, it would entitle, if not oblige the Home Office to prevent that sponsor from either granting more CoSs or revoking its licence …."

"…there are substantial advantages for sponsors in participating… but they are not obliged to do so. The rules contained in the … guidance for determining whether applicants are suitable to be sponsoring institutions, are in reality conditions of participation, and sponsors seeking the advantages of a licence cannot complain if they are required to adhere to them."

“[L3.11] We will continually monitor your ability and willingness to comply with your duties. We will make regular checks with HMRC to ensure you are paying your sponsored workers appropriately… [L3.12] If you fail to comply with your duties, or become no longer eligible or suitable to hold a sponsor licence, we may take action against you, including:  downgrading your licence rating – see Sponsor ratings for further information  reducing the number of CoS you can assign (or setting your limit to zero)  suspending your licence while we investigate further  revoking your licence  in serious cases, reporting you to the police or other relevant authorities.”  downgrading your licence rating – see Sponsor ratings for further information  reducing the number of CoS you can assign (or setting your limit to zero)  suspending your licence while we investigate further  revoking your licence  in serious cases, reporting you to the police or other relevant authorities.”

“If you wish to sponsor a Skilled Worker, you must: ….. Only sponsor workers in genuine employment which meet the skill level and salary requirements of this route.”

“[SK5.1] You must ensure any worker you sponsor on the Skilled Worker route is paid in line with the salary rates set out in the Immigration Rules and in this guidance. The relevant Immigration Rules are contained in paragraphs SW 4.2 to SW 4.4 and SW 14.1 to SW 14.5 of Appendix Skilled Worker. The going rates, where applicable, are set out in Tables 1 to 5 of Appendix Skilled Occupations. [SK5.2] These rates have been set to make sure the resident labour market is not undercut. They are reviewed and updated regularly to reflect the latest available salary data. … [SK5.5] In addition to compliance visits, we will undertake regular checks with HMRC to ensure you are paying at least the salary you stated on the sponsored worker’s Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS), in any sponsor note you have added to the CoS, or in any other notification of a change in salary.”

“If the going rate for the occupation is higher than the general salary threshold, you must pay the worker at least the going rate. If the going rate is lower than the general salary threshold, you must pay the worker at least the general salary threshold.”

“The gross salary figure, which must represent the total amount paid to the worker, gross of any tax paid.”

“You must tell us via your SMS account if a worker’s salary is reduced for a reason not related to absence after you have assigned a CoS (including after they have been granted entry clearance or permission). If you are sponsoring a Skilled Worker or Tier 2 (General) Migrant, you must check if you will need to assign a new CoS (and if the worker will need to apply for new permission) before you can reduce their salary.”

“You must stop sponsoring the worker if their revised salary no longer meets any salary, hourly or going rate requirement for the job or the route on which they are being sponsored, or the change is otherwise not permitted by the Immigration Rules or sponsor guidance.”

“the reduction coincides with a temporary reduction in the worker’s hours, or a phased return to work, for individual health reasons, provided: • this is supported by an occupational health assessment; and • the reduction does not result in the hourly rate falling below any hourly rate requirement which applied when the person obtained their most recent grant of permission … The worker otherwise continues to meet the salary requirements on the route on which they are being sponsored.”

“C1.11 You must report certain changes that affect your sponsored workers or your organisation within the time limits set out below: • changes to a sponsored worker’s circumstances – unless otherwise stated, you must report these changes within 10 working days of the relevant event occurring…” “C1.13 You must report the following changes to a sponsored worker’ circumstances by no later than 10 working days after the relevant change or event has occurred, or as otherwise specified below … • a sponsored worker is absent from work without pay, or on reduced pay, for more than 4 weeks in total in any calendar year … and a valid exception applies • a sponsored worker’s salary or pay is otherwise reduced from the level stated on their CoS – see section S4 of Part 2: Sponsor a worker for more information on salary reductions.”

“If you fail to comply with your sponsor duties, we may take action against you. This can include any of the following sanctions: • reducing your CoS allocation or setting it to zero • downgrading your licence rating • suspending your licence while we investigate further • revoking your licence • reporting you to the police or other relevant authorities.”

“C10.4. Annex C1 of this document sets out the circumstances in which we will revoke your licence – these are known as ‘mandatory’ grounds of revocation. If any of these circumstances arise, we may revoke your licence immediately and without warning. If we do not revoke your licence immediately, we will suspend your licence pending further investigation. C10.5. Annex C2 of this document sets out the circumstances in which we will normally revoke your licence, unless there are exceptional circumstances… C10.7. Annex C3 of this document sets out the circumstances in which we may revoke your licence...”

"C8.1. We may downgrade your licence from an A rating to a B rating; for example, if we believe you do not have the necessary processes in place to comply with your sponsor duties or have not provided the information you held when we asked you to provide it." "

"In general, we will only downgrade your licence for relatively minor breaches … that we believe can be resolved by issuing an action plan. In more serious cases we will suspend or revoke your licence."