Losing your sponsor licence doesn't just stop future hiring — it curtails the visas of the workers you already sponsor and can put the business itself at risk. Connaught Law's solicitors act for employers facing licence suspension and revocation: fast, evidence-led responses in the short window the Home Office allows, and compliance rebuilt so it doesn't happen twice.
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Suspension vs Revocation
Suspension is the warning shot: the licence is frozen, you can't assign new Certificates of Sponsorship, and the Home Office sets out its concerns with a deadline to respond. Revocation is the end of the licence — and of your sponsored workers' permission to work for you. The distinction matters because suspension is the stage where cases are won: a properly evidenced response can save the licence, while silence or a thin reply almost guarantees the next letter is revocation.
Why Licences Are Revoked
The common triggers: record-keeping and reporting failures found at a compliance visit, sponsored workers in roles that don't match their Certificates, salaries below the required level — now checked per pay period — genuine vacancy doubts, unreported changes in the business, and right to work failures. Many revocations punish administrative disorder rather than deliberate abuse; the sponsor guidance treats both alike, which is exactly why the response has to be organised and evidenced.
Responding to the Home Office
The response window is short and the standard is high: every allegation answered with documents, systems failures explained with fixes already implemented — not promised — and context the caseworker doesn't have. We run these responses like litigation: allegation schedule, evidence bundle, remediation record, and representations that give the Home Office a reasoned path to reinstatement.
What It Means for Your Workers
Revocation curtails sponsored workers' visas — typically leaving them roughly 60 days to find a new sponsor, switch route or leave the UK — and mid-project that can dismantle a team and expose the business to contract and employment claims. We advise on the workforce consequences alongside the licence fight, including options for key staff, because protecting the people is usually part of protecting the business.
Challenging Revocation
There is no right of appeal against revocation — the routes are further representations where the decision rests on error, and judicial review where the decision is unlawful, irrational or procedurally unfair, on judicial review's tight timescales. Where the licence can't be saved, we advise on the realistic path back: cooling-off, root-cause fixes and a re-application that survives scrutiny.
Prevention & Reinstatement
The cheapest revocation case is the one that never starts. Our business immigration team runs mock audits, fixes reporting and record-keeping gaps, and trains key personnel — the same work that wins suspension responses, done before the Home Office visits instead of after.
How We Work
Suspension and revocation run on the Home Office's clock, so we run on it too: same-day assessment of the letter, an allegation-by-allegation defence plan within days, and the evidence and remediation work programme managed to the response deadline. You'll know from the first review which allegations are defensible, which need remediation, and what outcome is realistic — because strategy chosen in week one decides these cases.
Why Connaught Law
01Litigation-grade responsesAllegation schedules, evidence bundles, implemented fixes — representations built to persuade, not plead.
02Speed the deadline demandsResponse windows are short. Our process starts the day the letter arrives.
03Senior attention throughoutYour case is run by our experienced immigration team, not passed down — with direct access to the person handling it.
04Business-wide viewWorkforce, employment law and commercial consequences handled alongside the licence — one firm, whole problem.
Fee structures are set out on our fees page — scoped and agreed at the first assessment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a revoked sponsor licence be appealed?
There's no statutory appeal. The realistic routes are further representations where the Home Office got facts wrong, judicial review where the decision is unlawful or procedurally unfair, and — where neither runs — a properly rebuilt application after the cooling-off period. Which fits depends on why the licence was revoked; we assess that first, honestly.
What happens to our sponsored workers if the licence is revoked?
Their visas are curtailed — typically to around 60 days — in which they must find a new sponsor, switch to another route or leave the UK. That's why the workforce plan runs alongside the licence challenge: for key staff, sixty days is workable with immediate action and wasted in a fortnight of hesitation.
How long do we have to respond to a suspension?
The suspension letter sets the deadline — typically measured in weeks, not months — and extensions are not guaranteed. The response is your best and often only chance to save the licence, so treat the arrival of the letter as day one of a project, with evidence-gathering starting immediately.
Can we apply for a new licence after revocation?
Usually only after a cooling-off period, and the new application faces heightened scrutiny of exactly what went wrong before. A successful return needs the root causes demonstrably fixed — systems, personnel, records — which is work best started the day the licence is lost, not the day the cooling-off ends.
Suspension or revocation letter arrived?
The clock started when it did. Send it to us today — we'll assess every allegation, build the response and fight for the licence your workforce depends on.
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