SMS UPDATES NATIONAL INSURANCE NUMBER (NINO) FOR KEY PERSONNEL
If your business holds immigration sponsor licence in any category, including Skilled Worker and Global Business Mobility as the most typical licence types, you need to ensure that you comply with the Home Office sponsorship duties. Those duties and requirements keep evolving and updates are notified to sponsors via Sponsor Management System (SMS). It is therefore important to login to your SMS account at least once a month and check the updates. In the below we draw sponsors attention to the requirement to provide National Insurance Number (NINO) and Companies House Number (CHN).
NATIONAL INSURANCE NUMBER (NINO) FOR AUTHORISING OFFICER AND KEY CONTACT
From 8 October 2023, when you replace the Authorising Officer (AO) or Key Contact (KC) on your licence you must provide their National Insurance number (NINO). Also, if you are amending the current AO or KC details in SMS you must provide your NINO has not already been provided. If the AO or KC does not have a NINO you will be asked to provide reasons why, and you may be asked to provide further evidence that the AO or KC has applied for a NINO. If you do not provide a valid reason for not having a NINO or evidence that one has been applied for, this may affect the outcome of your request.
NATIONAL INSURANCE NUMBER (NINO) FOR LEVEL 1 USERS
A similar process was introduced earlier this year for Level 1 users. You should add the NINOs of your existing AO, KC, and Level 1 users to SMS at your earliest convenience. NINO updates will happen immediately if there are no other changes to details that cannot be applied automatically. On 19 June 2023 the National Insurance number (NINO) became mandatory for Level 1 users. From this date onwards you may be required to provide your NINO, or a reason why you are exempt from having a NINO, when amending your details in the SMS. If you enter your NINO the update will happen immediately if there are no other changes that cannot be applied automatically. If you indicate that you don't have a NINO and provide exemption details, this will generate a request that will be subject to casework consideration prior to implementation. You may be asked to provide evidence of the reason for the NINO exemption as part of this consideration. Failure to provide a valid reason for the NINO exemption may affect the outcome of your request.
COMPANIES HOUSE NUMBER ON SMS
From 8 October 2023 the provision of a sponsor's Companies House reference number (CHN) has been enabled in SMS. Companies House records are publicly available and checks with Companies House are completed by Home Office when sponsor requests are considered. Provision of a CHN will facilitate more effective checking and will also aid the migration of sponsors to the transformed sponsorship system. Sponsors who are registered with Companies House can provide their CHN by using the SMS process for amending your organisation's details. Changes to CHN in SMS are made immediately and are not subject to our approval. If your organisation is registered with Companies House, you should add your CHN at your earliest convenience.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
