Key contact
The key contact acts as the main point of contact between the sponsoring employer and the Home Office.
The key contact does not have automatic access to the SMS.
If they require access, they will need to be set up as a level 1 or level 2 user.
Authorising officer (AO)
The AO ensures that the sponsor meets all its sponsor duties and has overall responsibility for the actions of the staff and representatives who operate the SMS on its behalf.
The AO is an important role and must be filled by the most senior person responsible for the recruitment of migrants and for ensuring compliance with sponsor duties.
The sponsor must ensure that a valid AO is in place at all times.
The AO is also responsible for deciding how many of the organisation’s staff need to have access to the SMS and what level of permission they can have.
They are responsible for the activities of all SMS users and must ensure compliance with the Home Office’s requirements for using the system so must have a system in place to check their activities.
It is recommended that the AO checks the CoS assigned to any workers at least once a month.
The AO does not have automatic access to the SMS. If they require access to the system, they will need to be set up as a level 1 or level 2 user, as well as being an AO.
Level 1 user
Level 1 users are responsible for day-to-day sponsorship activities using the SMS. Multiple level 1 users may be appointed once the licence application has been approved.
Level 1 users can use the SMS to:
- Assign CoS to workers.
- Ask for an increase in the number of CoS the sponsor can assign (the sponsor’s annual undefined CoS limit).
- Ask for more level 1 users and add level 2 users to the SMS or remove them.
- Inform the Home Office of sponsor changes of circumstances.
- Report worker activity, for example, inform the Home Office if a worker goes missing or does not come to work.
- Withdraw CoS.
- Inform the Home Office of changes to work addresses.
- View information about the licence and key personnel.
Organisations can only nominate one level 1 user when they apply for their licence and they must be an employee, director or partner.
Once the organisation is granted a licence it can use the SMS to nominate more level 1 users.
The Home Office will conduct checks on new level 1 users against their records and police databases before they are granted access to the SMS.
Sponsors must have at least one level 1 user in place at all times during the life of their licence. It is not possible for a sponsor to meet all of its sponsor duties without one.
If the Home Office discover that a sponsor does not have any level 1 users in place it may revoke the licence.
A level 1 User cannot be any of the following:
- A contractor.
- A consultant who is contracted for a specific project.
- A temporary staff member supplied by an employment agency.
- An undischarged bankrupt.
Level 2 user
This role is similar to a level 1 user, but with more restricted access to the SMS.
Level 2 users are optional personnel and may only be appointed by a level 1 user once the sponsor licence application has been approved.
Level 2 users can create and assign CoS to workers but can only view CoS that they have personally created and assigned or which have been transferred to them by a level 1 user. They cannot report on CoS assigned by level 1 users.
A level 2 user may be any of the following:
- A paid staff member or office holder within the organisation.
- An employee of a third-party organisation engaged by the organisation to deliver all or part of the HR function.
- A temporary staff member supplied by an employment agency.
- A UK-based representative.
They must not be:
- A contractor.
- A consultant who is contracted for a specific project.
- An undischarged bankrupt.
Suitability of key personnel
- They must be based permanently in the UK for the period that they hold the role.
- They must be paid members of staff or engaged as “office holders”, subject to the following exceptions:
- a level 1 or level 2 user can be an employee of a third-party organisation to which HR functions have been outsourced. However, new sponsors must have at least one level 1 user who is an employee, partner or director.
- a level 2 user can be a member of staff supplied by an employment agency.
- any key personnel role may be filled by an insolvency professional where the sponsor has gone into administration, liquidation or administrative receivership.
- • a UK-based representative can fill any of the key personnel roles apart from the AO.
- They should not have been named as key personnel for any sponsor whose licence has been revoked within the last 12 months.
- They must not have an unspent criminal conviction.
- They must not have an undischarged bankruptcy or debt relief order or undertaking.
- They must not be a consultant or other individual contracted for a specific project.
- A legal representative cannot be the AO, but can be a key contact, level 1 or level 2 user.
The key personnel must satisfy certain suitability requirements, including the following:
The number of level 1 and level 2 users appointed should reflect the needs of the business, having regard to the appropriate safeguards to reduce the risk of error or mismanagement of the SMS and ensure compliance with sponsor duties.
Each level 1 or 2 user ID is personal to an individual. It is essential that the user does not disclose their password to another individual or share their login with a colleague. To do so would risk revocation of the licence.