UK sponsor licence case study: A key factor to business growth

Many UK-based construction companies are struggling to grow because of staff shortages. Covid and Brexit are partly to blame, but there is an alternative, as Garth from Buildandmore discovered. 

Garth, Director of Buildandmore, has always used migrant workers from the EU. However, with Covid many of them went back home, and with Brexit a lot of them found it difficult to return to the UK. This left Garth, and the entire industry, with a massive shortfall in quality workers.

So, what did he do? He started recruiting a lot more local Brits. Which is a very good thing.

But he picked up three issues that made it difficult for him to grow his business:

1. The pool of talent within the UK is limited.
2. Brits are usually a lot more expensive.
3. They look for better opportunities making it hard to hold on to quality staff.

One of his suppliers suggested he speak to someone about recruiting migrant workers. He could become a sponsor licence holder, then he could issue these workers with a Certificate of Sponsorship that they would need to apply for their Skilled Worker visa. His first thought was that it was probably very expensive and complicated, not to mention that it would take a lot of time.

Becoming a sponsor licence holder

But when he spoke to a business immigration professional at Sable International, he learned how hiring workers from abroad could solve some of his biggest problems.

1. By looking at hiring a worker from abroad he has access to a massive, highly skilled, English-speaking talent pool. 
2. The starting salary for workers from abroad is often a lot lower than for those in the UK.
3. He also learned that when he sponsors a worker from abroad, that worker is typically tied to you through the sponsorship regime and can’t simply move from role to role.

Read more: UK sponsor license renewal no longer required

This meant that Garth could now hire highly skilled, English-speaking workers at a better rate than resident workers, and he has a much higher chance of retaining them since they would be tied to his business through their Skilled Worker visa.

Even though he was pleasantly surprised, he still had his reservations about the cost of sponsoring a worker, the process itself and how long it would take. But he learned that it is often possible to hire someone from abroad faster than a local placement with a 90-day notice period.

Now, Buildandmore is growing again. Garth has since hired one South African, two Polish and four Indian workers. He is currently looking to hire six more workers and couldn’t be happier with the process

Sable International solves real business problems that enable businesses to grow again. Solving, growing and caring for our customers brings us great joy.

Our Business Immigration team is able to help with the entire sponsorship process from the paperwork, legalities to the risk mitigation processes. Contact us on +44 (0) 20 7759 5307 or at workpermits@sableinternational.com.