Help with sponsorship
Recruiting international staff brings real benefits to care providers in adult social care and we've put together some information to help you.
Webinar slides
Suffolk Care Association has produced slides which help providers with sponsorship compliance.
Mock UK Visa and Immigration compliance audits
This is an offer for providers to support UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) compliance. It will also help reduce the risk of revocations linked to record keeping.
If you have recently had a mock UKVI compliance audit, or are planning on arranging one, you may qualify for a full or partial refund of the cost.
The deadline for mock audit applications is 12 June 2026.
Find out more from the Eastern Region Care Association Alliance (ERCAA).
Providers in Cambridge, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Southend, Suffolk and Milton Keynes
If you're an adult social care provider in one of these local authority areas, contact ERCAA to apply for a refund.
Peterborough
If you're a provider in Peterborough, email [email protected] to register interest.
Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire
If you are a provider in these local authority areas, email [email protected] to register interest.
Luton and Thurrock
Refunds are not available. Their trained teams will carry out these audits as part of their quality visits if a provider holds a sponsorship license.
Avoiding licence suspension or revocation
We commissioned the following resources to help you avoid sponsorship licence suspension or revocation.
Home Office approved sponsor self-assessment tool
Our colleagues in Yorkshire and Humber have developed a self-assessment tool for care providers. It helps providers ensure they have everything needed in place to be compliant with their sponsorship licence.
To access the tool, go to the Yorkshire and Humber Regional International Recruitment Hub's section for sponsoring workers.
You'll find a link to the tool under the heading "We work with regional local authority partners to deliver".
Suffolk Care Association guides
Suffolk Care Association has step by step guides about the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) process for providers. They include:
- Considering sponsorship of overseas workers. This covers overview of process, compliance and costs, plus recruiters.
- Immigration updates. This covers Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) or Defined Certificate of Sponsorship (DCoS) requests, automatic renewals, further information requests, visa application processing and eVisas.
- Compliance Duties and Sponsorship Management System (SMS) Reporting. This covers provider immigration support, sponsorship compliance extensions, salary deductions, HR (including maternity), working time regulations and modern slavery.
