Sponsorship Management System
Under the Points Based System, once an application for a licence is successful, the sponsor (normally an employer or educational establishment) will receive a sponsor licence number and be able to use the sponsorship management system, an online tool for the administration of sponsorship actions. Sponsors are provided with a username and password to log onto the sponsorship management system from the UK Border Agency website. (Note that for educational establishments acting as tier 4 sponsors, the sponsorship management system will not go live until Autumn 2009.)
The first step is for the sponsor to allocate four roles:
• Authorising officer – responsible for the activities of all users of the system (although ultimately it is the sponsor itself that is ultimately responsible and risks action being taken against it in the event of non-compliance)
• Level 1 user – able to undertake the full range of activities under the sponsorship management system
• Level 2 user – able to undertake a more limited range of activities under the sponsorship management system
• Key contact – the nominated point of contact between the UK Border Agency and the organisation.
These roles can be filled by the same person or different people but there can only be one authorising officer. It is for the authorising officer to decide how many people should have access to the system bearing in mind that the authorising officer can fill any of the other roles him/herself. In particular, if the authorising officer wishes to have access to the system, he/she must also set himself up as a level 1 or level 2 user, although additional level 1 and level 2 users can be appointed. (Note that the sponsor should appoint only one level 1 user at the time of application for a licence but that additional level 1 users can be nominated via the sponsorship management system after a licence has been approved.) Whilst not necessarily undertaking the tasks on a regular basis, our advice in most cases would be for the authorising officer to also be a level 1 user.
The sponsor should also appoint one key contact. As before, the key contact can be the authorising officer; it can be a single specific role; or combined with other roles. But again, the key contact must also be a level 1 or level 2 user to have access to the sponsorship management system. In our view, there is logic to combining the role of key contact with that of level 1 user. The level 1 user is responsible for setting up accounts for level 2 users.
Note that the UK Border Agency make background checks on the authorising officer, key contact and level 1 user.
The authorising officer must be a paid staff member or office holder of the organisation and cannot be a “representative”, a contractor, member of a third party organisation, temporary staff member or un-discharged bankrupt.
The key contact, level 1 and level 2 users can be paid members of staff or a “representative” acting on behalf of the organisation but cannot be a contractor engaged for a specific project. Level 1 and level 2 users (but not the key contact) can also be members of a third party organisation engaged to deliver an organisations HR function and level 2 users can be staff supplied to an organisation but employed by an employment agency.
“Representatives” must be qualified to provide advice in accordance with Section 84 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 or a regulated member of a designated body (or working under the supervision of such a person) listed in the Act.
Veristat is regulated by the OISC, is qualified to provide immigration advice and able to act as your “representative” in helping with the completion of licence applications, acting as the key contact and in undertaking all or part of the roles of Level 1 and 2 users. Contact us now at info@veristat.co.uk or on 0844 335 1619 for a preliminary discussion of your requirements.
We would also welcome hearing your views and experiences of using the sponsorship management system for inclusion in future articles on this blog. Contact us on info@veristat.co.uk
