The Home Office quietly published its latest update to the Register of Worker and Temporary Worker Licensed Sponsors on 21 January, revealing that 87,114 organisations now hold permission to hire non-UK nationals under the points-based system. The list—refreshed almost daily but often overlooked—matters because only companies on it can issue Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) for Skilled Worker, Global Business Mobility and Temporary Worker visas.
The milestone underscores how dependent the British economy has become on overseas talent since the EU free-movement regime ended in 2021. Sponsor licences have grown by 42 % in just two years, with health & social-care providers, IT consultancies and hospitality operators accounting for most of the expansion. Immigration consultants say the surge is also fuelled by Home Office crackdowns on “non-genuine vacancy” arrangements, which have forced staffing agencies to secure their own licences rather than rely on umbrella intermediaries.
For global mobility teams the enlarged register is a double-edged sword. A wider pool of compliant suppliers makes it easier to place secondees across the UK, yet it also intensifies competition for experienced migrant workers just as salary thresholds rise again in July. Analysts note that more than 600 sponsors were downgraded to a ‘B’ rating last quarter after compliance audits—a reminder that licence maintenance remains critical.
![Home Office Updates Sponsor Register, Number of Licensed Employers Tops 87,000]()
Global mobility and HR teams looking to minimise administrative drag can trim weeks off the process by using VisaHQ’s UK platform (https://www.visahq.com/united-kingdom/). The service offers end-to-end handling of Certificate of Sponsorship paperwork, automated alerts for licence renewals and on-demand expert reviews—all of which help employers stay ahead of compliance checks and avoid costly downgrades.
Employers planning 2026 hiring rounds should download the latest CSV dataset and cross-check partners’ ratings. Those newly added to the list must schedule an Authorising Officer briefing within eight weeks and should budget for mandatory Sponsor Management System training. Conversely, organisations that are inactive or have minimal CoS allocation may wish to surrender their licence ahead of the annual £536 renewal fee to avoid compliance risk.
The register’s publication schedule itself is newsworthy: daily snapshots now include a change log, allowing observers to track licence suspensions in near-real time—a level of transparency welcomed by corporate compliance officers.
The milestone underscores how dependent the British economy has become on overseas talent since the EU free-movement regime ended in 2021. Sponsor licences have grown by 42 % in just two years, with health & social-care providers, IT consultancies and hospitality operators accounting for most of the expansion. Immigration consultants say the surge is also fuelled by Home Office crackdowns on “non-genuine vacancy” arrangements, which have forced staffing agencies to secure their own licences rather than rely on umbrella intermediaries.
For global mobility teams the enlarged register is a double-edged sword. A wider pool of compliant suppliers makes it easier to place secondees across the UK, yet it also intensifies competition for experienced migrant workers just as salary thresholds rise again in July. Analysts note that more than 600 sponsors were downgraded to a ‘B’ rating last quarter after compliance audits—a reminder that licence maintenance remains critical.
Global mobility and HR teams looking to minimise administrative drag can trim weeks off the process by using VisaHQ’s UK platform (https://www.visahq.com/united-kingdom/). The service offers end-to-end handling of Certificate of Sponsorship paperwork, automated alerts for licence renewals and on-demand expert reviews—all of which help employers stay ahead of compliance checks and avoid costly downgrades.
Employers planning 2026 hiring rounds should download the latest CSV dataset and cross-check partners’ ratings. Those newly added to the list must schedule an Authorising Officer briefing within eight weeks and should budget for mandatory Sponsor Management System training. Conversely, organisations that are inactive or have minimal CoS allocation may wish to surrender their licence ahead of the annual £536 renewal fee to avoid compliance risk.
The register’s publication schedule itself is newsworthy: daily snapshots now include a change log, allowing observers to track licence suspensions in near-real time—a level of transparency welcomed by corporate compliance officers.
