The situation
The Home Office had already revoked the organisation’s sponsor licence when DavidsonMorris became involved. The organisation employed a significant number of sponsored workers and provided services relied upon by vulnerable individuals and the wider community.
The potential loss of sponsored staff created an immediate operational concern. The client needed advice on whether there were grounds to challenge the decision and what preparation that would require.
Our instruction focused on examining the reasons for sponsor licence revocation, identifying the relevant evidence and assessing the basis for legal action.
The challenge
The revocation notice needed to be considered alongside the organisation’s sponsorship history, earlier Home Office correspondence and compliance records. The assessment required us to establish how the decision had been reached and what evidence was available when it was made.
Records could be held across HR, payroll, sponsor management systems and individual members of staff. Reconstructing that history required coordination with the client and careful checking of recollections against contemporaneous documents.
The work also needed to establish which concerns could support a legal challenge. Each proposed ground required analysis of the Home Office’s reasoning, the applicable requirements and the evidence relevant to the disputed finding.
Our approach
We reviewed the revocation decision and began identifying the records needed to test its conclusions. Following that assessment, we recommended that the organisation proceed urgently with a Pre-Action Protocol letter for Judicial Review.
Preparation focused on the connection between the Home Office’s findings and the underlying evidence. We needed to establish whether the decision involved factual errors, overlooked or misunderstood material, an incorrect application of sponsor guidance or other potentially challengeable defects in the decision-making process.
The evidence exercise required the organisation to identify relevant correspondence, sponsorship records, employment documentation and material concerning the workers referred to in the decision. Any proposed challenge needed documents capable of supporting the factual account and explaining why a finding was disputed.
We also examined the organisation’s compliance history and matters that might weaken its position. Those issues needed to inform the advice and the preparation of the challenge so that the client could assess its position realistically.
The organisation’s operational circumstances formed a further part of the preparation. Its sponsored workforce supported services for vulnerable individuals, and we needed to establish the consequences of disruption for those services. That context accompanied the assessment of the proposed legal grounds.
The planned letter needed to identify the decision being challenged, explain the alleged errors, connect those arguments to the evidence and specify the remedy sought. Preparation also required attention to the applicable timetable and the work needed to preserve the client’s position.
Value delivered
The initial assessment gave the organisation a recommended course of action following revocation and identified the evidence needed to develop its proposed challenge.
Our work established a framework for examining the Home Office’s reasoning against the documentary record, while accounting for weaknesses requiring further investigation.
The preparation brought sponsor compliance experience and public law analysis together around the client’s immediate priority: assembling a properly supported challenge within the available time.
Sponsor licence revocation challenge support
DavidsonMorris advises employers on options for challenging sponsor licence revocation, including assessment of the decision, Pre-Action Protocol correspondence and Judicial Review proceedings.
Speak to our team about challenging sponsor licence revocation →
