In late 2015, the Home Office stated that the number of Compliance Audits will be increased in all industry sectors, and that many of these will be unannounced.

• 1,792 sponsor licence applications were made in Q2 2015
• Of these, 791 received a HO visit, some 44%
• Of those receiving a visit, 57% were unannounced 

Approximately 4,000 sponsor licence applications were received in 2015; around 25% of those have been audited. The refusal rate is currently almost 1 in 3 (over 30%).