Sponsor software buyer guide · Sources checked 24 September 2026
Best sponsor compliance software for recruitment agencies (2026)
A recruitment agency can hold a sponsor licence only to sponsor people it employs to run its own business, such as its own recruiters. It cannot sponsor candidates to place with clients (Part 1, L5.12). If sponsored workers turn out to be supplied as labour to another organisation, the Home Office says it will revoke the licence (L5.13; Part 2, S1.36–S1.38). So an agency usually needs two different tools: sponsor records for its own sponsored staff, and right-to-work checks for the candidates it places. That second job widens on 1 October 2026. Sources checked 24 September 2026.
Last updated .
The rule that shapes the purchase
Who an agency may sponsor, and what it may not do
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| Situation | What the guidance says | Software consequence |
|---|---|---|
| Your own recruiters and office staff | Permitted: workers “employed directly by you in connection with the running of your business” (L5.12). | An ordinary sponsor-record tool: worker file, dates, reporting events, Appendix D evidence. |
| A candidate hired out to fill a client’s role | Not permitted, “regardless of any genuine contract” (S1.36(a)); an ongoing routine role for a third party is also excluded (S1.36(b)). | No software makes this compliant. A tool that tracks sponsored “placements” should prompt a question, not a purchase. |
| Your employee delivering a fixed-term client project | Permitted only for “a service or project which has a specific end date”, with you keeping full responsibility for the work (S1.34–S1.35). | Keep the contract, the end date and each client site. A new client site not on the CoS is reportable (Part 3, C1.21). |
| A client hiring your candidate and sponsoring them itself | The client may assign the CoS only if it decides the duties and outcomes and agrees and pays the salary (L5.14). | The sponsor record belongs to the client, not to you. Your record is the candidate’s right-to-work check. |
| Supplying Key Personnel to a sponsor | From 9 September 2026, a sponsor can no longer appoint Key Personnel supplied by an employment business (L4.14). | Relevant if clients have used your temps as Authorising Officer or Level 1 User. |
Paragraph references are to the sponsor guidance versions 08/26: Part 1 updated 3 September 2026, Part 2 updated 3 August 2026 and Part 3 updated 2 September 2026. Umbrella companies are not mentioned in Parts 1–3 or Appendix D.
What changes on 1 October 2026
Section 48 of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 extends right-to-work checks beyond employees to people engaged under a worker’s contract, individual sub-contractors and online matching services, and adds liability through a chain of contracts. It commences on 1 October 2026 under SI 2026/683. The Home Office’s draft employer’s guide (11 September 2026) says an employment business supplying temporary workers is the individual’s employer for the right-to-work scheme and carries out the check, and that a penalty for the new categories applies only where the engagement began on or after 1 October 2026. Part 3, C7.27 repeats the change for sponsors. The candidate-check side of an agency’s software is where this date matters.
Shortlist by job
Which tool fits which half of the problem?
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| Product | Why an agency might evaluate it | Published price (checked 24 Sep) | Check in the demo |
|---|---|---|---|
| LuwaSuite | The only vendor in this set with a dedicated recruitment-agency page: a candidate right-to-work pipeline, bulk upload and a compliance certificate per placement. | From £49/month for 5 employees to £379 for 100; custom above | Whether candidates count toward the employee band, and how placement records are kept apart from your sponsored staff. |
| Root HR | A full HR system with an applicant tracking system alongside sponsor tools, if you want one platform for your own staff. | £10/month for 15 staff billed yearly, £14 monthly; excl. VAT | Whether candidate right-to-work checks sit in the ATS or the HR record, and what an extra employee costs. |
| SponsorFort | Workflow-only sponsor records with per-seat access, for an agency whose sponsored headcount is its own small internal team. | £99, £249 or £449/month + VAT (5, 20 or unlimited workers) | It does not market candidate checking. Confirm you would still need a separate right-to-work tool. |
| SMS System (commercial vendor) | Priced per sponsored employee, which suits an agency sponsoring only a handful of internal staff. | It is not the Home Office Sponsor Management System. Confirm where official reports are filed. | |
| Soteriaa | Records, dates, reportable changes and evidence for your own sponsored staff, including work-location changes for fixed-term client projects. | No candidate pipeline, placement records or client portal. It is not a tool for vetting the people you place. |
Vendor sources are linked in each row. Only LuwaSuite publishes recruitment-specific material; the others appear because they fit the internal-staff half of the job. Inclusion is not endorsement, and none of these tools makes a supply-of-labour arrangement permissible.
Acceptance test
Run one real scenario through each tool
Use your own facts. A demo that only shows a dashboard has not answered the agency question.
The Appendix D record-keeping duties have no separate rule for client-site records, so the contract and site history for a project deployment are your own evidence of S1.35. Report timing is covered on our SMS reporting deadlines page, and penalty levels on the civil penalties page.
- Add a sponsored internal recruiter and show the reporting task if their office changes.
- Add a consultant on a fixed-term client project: record the contract end date and a second client site, and show the change event it creates.
- Record a candidate right-to-work check made on 2 October 2026 and show where it is stored, separate from sponsored staff.
- Show who can see candidate documents, and what you can export if you leave.
- Ask the vendor to say, in writing, which of those records the product is not designed to hold.
Where Soteriaa fits, and where it does not
Soteriaa’s sponsor workspace keeps each sponsored worker’s record, work location, dates, evidence and a change log with a review status for work-location, salary, hours and absence changes. For an agency, that covers the staff you are allowed to sponsor. It has no candidate or placement model, it does not check right to work for you, and it does not decide whether an arrangement is supply of labour. Sponsor tracking is £25/month for up to 5 employees, £79 for up to 20 or £149 for unlimited employees, excluding VAT where applicable, with every sponsor feature in each tier. The wider market map compares the full vendor set.
Publisher and comparison scope
Soteriaa publishes this commercial guide and sells sponsor record-tracking software. Vendor prices and descriptions are a 24 September 2026 snapshot of each vendor’s own website, not a hands-on trial, an independent ranking or a binding quote; the shortlist is ordered by the job each tool fits, not by score. Rules are summarised from the official sources linked on the page and change without notice. Confirm VAT, allowances, service scope and renewal terms with each supplier, and take individual immigration questions to a solicitor or a regulated immigration adviser. Soteriaa provides document and workflow tools, not legal assistance or compliance advice. It helps organise records, evidence and deadlines; it does not determine compliance, certify records or submit official reports on your behalf. You review the information and remain responsible for required checks and submissions.
Separate your sponsored staff from your candidates
Buy for the half of the problem you actually have, then check the other half is covered elsewhere.