Guidance

SMS guide 3: applications, renewals and services (accessible)

Updated 17 July 2024

Additional SMS manuals

There are 12 SMS manuals available, plus a supplementary policy manual for completing a CAS. The manuals are grouped into three categories: common, CAS and CoS. The table below describes the purpose and audience of each manual. You should read all manuals applicable to your licence before contacting the relevant helpdesk.

Manual reference	Manual title	Type	Purpose	Audience
Manual 1	Introduction to SMS	Common	Use this manual to log into SMS, change your password, manage SMS users and view important messages posted by the Home Office. In addition, this manual explains who should use SMS and for what purpose. The manual features a full introduction to SMS as well as a comprehensive troubleshooting section.	All sponsors
Manual 2	Managing your licence	Common	To help sponsors manage their key personnel, change their licence details, manage PAYE references, and apply for allocations of CoS/CAS.	All sponsors
Manual 3	Apply for Premium customer service, Basic Compliance Assessment and manage Action plans	Common	To help sponsors apply for Premium customer service, Basic Compliance Assessment and manage action plans.	All sponsors
Manual 4a	Creating a CAS – guide for education sponsors	CAS	This manual contains supplementary information on completing a CAS. Use this guide to determine what information is necessary in each field of the CAS.	Sponsors licensed in the Student Route
Manual 5	Reporting student activity	CAS	To help sponsors report student activity, for example if a student’s circumstances change or submitting a graduate notification. This manual also contains help with reporting fee updates and adding sponsor notes to CAS that have already been assigned.	Sponsors licensed in the Student Route
Manual 6	Miscellaneous CAS functions	CAS	To help sponsors complete all other functions of CAS, such as managing batches of CAS, managing pre-stored addresses for use when creating CAS, transferring ownership of CAS, printing CAS and exporting CAS.	Sponsors licensed in the Student Route
Manual 7	Bulk Data Transfer of CAS	CAS	To help sponsors use the bulk data transfer (BDT) functions of SMS, including graduate notifications. You must have a bespoke IT system in place to use BDT.	Sponsors licensed in the Student Route
Manual 8	Creating and assigning CoS	CoS	To help sponsors create and assign individual and batches of CoS.	Sponsors licensed in any Worker or Temporary Worker route
Manual 9	Reporting worker activity	CoS	To help sponsors report worker activity, for example if a worker’s circumstances change. This manual also contains help with adding sponsor notes to CoS that have already been assigned.	Sponsors licensed in any Worker or Temporary Worker route
Manual 10	Miscellaneous CoS functions	CoS	To help sponsors complete all other functions of CoS, such as managing batches of CoS, managing pre-stored addresses for use when creating CoS, transferring ownership of CoS, and printing CoS.	Sponsors licensed in any Worker or Temporary Worker route
Manual 11	Temporary Work - Creative Worker groups of CoS	CoS	To help sponsors create and manage groups of CoS. Groups of CoS are only available to sponsors licensed in Temporary Work - Creative Worker.	Sponsors licensed in the Temporary Worker - Creative and Sporting route
Manual 12	Defined CoS	CoS	To help sponsors apply for defined CoS, track applications for defined CoS and once granted, create defined CoS.	Sponsored licensed in Skilled Worker

Glossary

Term	Meaning
SMS	Sponsorship Management System
CoS	Certificate of Sponsorship
CAS	Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies
AO	Authorising Officer
KC	Key Contact
BDT	Bulk Data Transfer
SELT	Secure English Language Test
.XML	Extensible Mark-up Language
.PDF	Portable Document Format
Automation	On 6 April 2014 we introduced new functionality in SMS to automatically renew CoS allocations and to apply changes to your address, or that of your AO and KC. We will write you if you meet the criteria and automation has been set.

Guide 1: How to apply for or renew Worker Sponsor Premium customer service

Follow the step by step instructions to apply for or renew Worker Sponsor Premium customer service.

Step	Instruction
1	From the Licence summary, applications and services screen, select Apply for or renew Worker Sponsor Premium customer service.
2	From the Worker Sponsor Premium customer service introduction screen, choose the fee applicable to the service level for which you wish to apply, then select Next.
3	From the Worker Sponsor Premium customer service declaration screen, complete the date, your name, your position in the organisation and tick the declaration box. When complete, select Continue.
4	From the Premium customer service payment screen, select OK to proceed with the transaction; this will open our contracted third party payment service (Worldpay).
5	When the payment process is complete, the Premium customer service submission confirmation screen is displayed. Select Submission sheet.
6	You do not need to send the submission sheet to us, but you should print and save a copy for your own records.
7	If your application is granted (you can check the status within Applications and renewals tracking), you can view your Premium service contact details. From the Licence summary, applications and services screen, select Premium service contact details.
8	If you have a query you should contact your Licence manager in the first instance. From the Licence summary, applications and services screen, select Premium service contact details.

Guide 2: How to apply for, or decline to apply for a Basic Compliance Assessment (Student Sponsor status)

Follow the step by step instructions to apply for, or decline to apply for a Basic Compliance Assessment. You must be licensed under Student Route and rated ‘Probationary sponsor’ (displayed as ‘A-rated’ in SMS) for 11 months to initially apply for a Basic Compliance Assessment.

You should check the Licence summary screen to see when you are eligible to apply for a Basic Compliance Assessment. You should read the Sponsorship policy guidance before applying for a Basic Compliance Assessment.

Step	Instruction
1	From Licence summary, applications and services screen, select Apply for Basic Compliance Assessment.
2	From the Basic Compliance Assessment application introduction screen, select Next. To decline to apply for a Basic Compliance Assessment, select Decline and see Step 6 for further instructions.
Note	1. If you are a Student Premium sponsor, there is no fee for a Basic Compliance Assessment. 2. If the Next button is unavailable (greyed out), you are not eligible to apply for Student Sponsor status at this time. You can apply for a Basic Compliance Assessment to renew your Student Sponsor status up to 31 days in advance of your Student Sponsor status end date.
3	From the Basic Compliance Assessment application declaration screen, complete the date, your name, your position in the organisation and tick the declaration box. When complete, select Continue.
4	From the Basic Compliance Assessment payment screen, select OK to proceed with the transaction; this will open our contracted third party payment service (Worldpay).
5	Once the payment process is complete, the Basic Compliance Assessment submission confirmation screen is displayed. Select Submission sheet.
Note	You do not need to send the submission sheet to us, but you should print and save a copy for your own records.
6	To decline: From the Decline to apply for a Basic Compliance Assessment – declaration screen, complete the date, your name, your position in the organisation and tick the declaration box. When complete, select Next.
7	From the Basic Compliance Assessment application decline confirmation screen, select Confirm to proceed. If you do not wish to decline to renew/apply, select Cancel.
Note	If you proceed, you will be unable to reverse this decision and you should surrender your Student Route licence. If you don’t surrender your Student Route licence before your Student Sponsor status expires, we will take action to revoke your sponsor licence.
8	From the Basic Compliance Assessment decline submission confirmation screen, select Submission sheet.
9	The must send the completed submission sheet to the address specified within the indicated timescale.

Guide 3: How to pay for or decline to pay for an action plan (Worker or Temporary Worker sponsors only)

Follow the step by step instructions to pay for or decline to pay for an action plan.

If we have written to you requesting payment for an action plan, you must use this function to pay, or decline to pay for it. You can also view completed action plan payment requests that have been made using SMS and track the status of an action plan. Only Level 1 users can view and pay for action plans.

You should read the Sponsorship policy guidance before paying for or declining to pay for an action plan.

Step	Instruction
1	From the Licence summary, applications and services screen, select Action plan details.
2	From the Action plan details screen, you can view your outstanding action plan payments (if applicable). Choose the radio button next to the request, then select Pay. At this stage, if you wish to decline to pay, select Decline and see Step 6 for further instructions.
3	From the Online payment screen, select OK to proceed with the transaction; this will open our contracted third party payment service (Worldpay).
4	When the payment process is complete or if no payment was required, the Action plan payment summary screen is displayed.
5	On the Action plan details screen, you no longer have any outstanding payments and you can see the Action plan current status and the details of the action plan are visible in the Competed action plan payment requests section.
6	To decline: From the Decline to pay for an action plan – declaration screen, if you still wish to decline to pay for your action plan and surrender your sponsor licence, complete the date, your name, your position in the organisation and tick the declaration box. When complete, select Confirm.
7	After confirming to decline payment for an action plan, you are returned to the Action plan details screen, where you can see that you no longer have any items outstanding. We will contact you to initiate the process of surrendering your licence.

Guide 4: How to track new and renewal applications

Follow the step by step instructions to track the progress of your applications for Premium customer service and Basic Compliance Assessment.

Step	Instruction
1	From Licence summary, applications and services screen, select Applications and renewals tracking.
2	From the Applications and renewals tracking screen, you can track the progress of, Premium customer service applications, Premium customer service renewals, and Basic Compliance Assessment applications. Further information can be obtained from the help links on this screen, for instance, explanations of the stages through which applications progress. Select Back to return to the main menu.