Victims recognised under the national referral mechanism can now leave an abusive sponsor and keep working on their skilled-worker visas, the Home Office announced. From Thursday, anyone who receives a positive "conclusive grounds" decision will no longer be tied to the employer named on their sponsorship, and will be permitted to work for any employer for the remainder of their visa.
The sponsorship route, introduced in 2021 by Boris Johnson’s Conservative government to plug post-Brexit labour gaps, linked a migrant's immigration status to a single sponsor. Workers on that route have no recourse to public funds and could lose the right to remain if they left an abusive employer but could not secure a new sponsor quickly. Campaigners have long said that vulnerability created opportunities for rogue employers to underpay or coerce staff.
“Allowing survivors to work for another sponsor for the remainder of their visa is a crucial way to help them rebuild their lives safely and with dignity,” said Maj Heather Grinsted, the Salvation Army’s deputy director of anti-trafficking and modern slavery.
Dr Dora-Olivia Vicol, CEO of the Work Rights Centre, described the move as potentially “a gamechanger,” but cautioned its benefit will depend on “how accessible the modern slavery framework is.” She noted campaigners had urged the Home Office for nearly three years to remove employer control over migrants' visas.
Ministers said the change will protect care workers, chefs, hospitality staff and others who arrived in good faith but suffered abuse. The government also said sponsors found to have committed criminal offences will be referred to the police, and that its planned immigration white paper will aim to make it easier for sponsored workers to change employer and strengthen protections against exploitation.
The announcement comes amid stepped-up enforcement. More than 6,600 employers have been stripped of licences to sponsor workers since Labour took office, including over 4,400 in the year to June 2026, a 140% rise on the year before. Last year 111,000 skilled-worker visas were granted, a 76% fall from the peak in the year ending December 2023, after ministers halted new overseas applications for care-worker visas from July 2025.
Officials and campaigners say the change gives victims practical freedom to leave exploitative workplaces, but that its real-world impact will hinge on timely access to the national referral mechanism and continued enforcement against abusive sponsors. The government intends to set further protections in its forthcoming white paper and monitor enforcement outcomes.
