Who is covered?

The arrangement applies where the individual holds permission on the Skilled Worker or Health and Care Worker route as a care worker or senior care worker in the specified occupation codes.

The guidance identifies care workers under SOC 6135 or 6145 and senior care workers under SOC 6136 or 6146. Where revocation of the employer’s sponsor licence is the only reason for cancellation, the Home Office guidance states that the worker’s permission must not be cancelled on that basis.

The Home Office is equally clear that the arrangement is temporary and subject to regular review. If another cancellation ground applies, the case should be considered in the usual way.

How is this different from the usual position?

Why has the care sector been treated differently?

The adult social care sector has experienced significant sponsor-compliance problems and large numbers of workers have been displaced after employers lost their ability to sponsor.

In April 2026, the Department of Health and Social Care confirmed that up to £7.5 million would fund 15 regional partnerships during 2026 to 2027 to help international care workers affected by sponsor licence revocation move into new ethical employment as quickly as possible.

The temporary immigration arrangement sits against that wider policy background: protecting workers from the immediate immigration consequences of an employer’s compliance failure while retaining enforcement against non-compliant sponsors.

What does this mean for care providers?

For compliant care providers, the change may make it easier for affected workers to remain in a position where they can secure alternative sponsored employment rather than having their immigration permission cancelled solely because of their former employer’s sponsor licence revocation.

Providers considering recruiting an affected worker should still complete the appropriate Right to Work and immigration checks, confirm the worker’s current immigration position, ensure the role is eligible for sponsorship and establish whether a new immigration application is required before employment begins.

The government also continues to support regional arrangements intended to help displaced international care workers move into new sponsored employment. Providers looking to recruit can therefore consider these existing worker pools as part of their workforce planning.

Sponsor compliance remains critical

The temporary safeguard is aimed at affected workers. It does not reduce the consequences for a care provider whose sponsor licence is suspended or revoked.

Care businesses should therefore continue to ensure their Sponsor Management System records are accurate, sponsored workers are paid and employed in accordance with the details recorded on their Certificates of Sponsorship, relevant changes are reported within the required timescales and Right to Work processes remain robust.

The wider Home Office sponsor guidance makes clear that serious or systematic breaches of sponsor duties can lead to licence revocation.

Because the care-worker arrangement has expressly been described as temporary, providers and affected workers should also avoid basing long-term plans on the assumption that the policy will remain unchanged.