Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 28
28
Accepted
Home Office failed to assess compliance risks for Skilled Worker route and care workers.
Conclusion
The Home Office did not conduct a thorough assessment of compliance risks when the Skilled Worker route was introduced in 2020 and did not re-assess risks when the route was expanded to include care workers in 2022.76 We asked why the Home Office seemed to have shown little curiosity about how the route was operating, and the extent to which people were exploiting loopholes and flaws in the system. The Home Office acknowledged that it did not have experience of dealing with care in the immigration system but said it had to respond quickly to expand the route to include care workers and was busy with other priorities, including the new Ukraine schemes. The Home Office said that if it had had more time, it could have done more to foresee the challenges and put appropriate controls in place.77
Government Response Summary
The government agrees to improve compliance risk assessments, continuously updating sector-specific risks, using digital tools for alerts, forming a dedicated unit for salary checks with HMRC data, and introducing a new tool in Autumn 2025 to enhance checks on sponsor personnel.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: March 2027 5.2 The department continuously updates sector-specific risk assessments using emerging data to guide caseworkers. A digital tool alerts users to risks linked to occupations which are assessed to be below degree level on the Temporary Shortage List. The Home Office routinely use the Salary and Employment Checker for sponsorship cases and are forming a dedicated unit to scale this work, leveraging HMRC data. Planned improvements will enable bulk processing. Additional tools are being tested to surface organisational data, map sponsor structures, and enhance compliance. A new tool in Autumn 2025 will improve checks on key sponsor personnel using data from Companies House and HMRC.