Overview
A sponsor cannot grant unlimited unpaid leave to a sponsored worker and treat sponsorship as continuing indefinitely. The Home Office applies a cumulative 4-week threshold on unpaid absence, measured across any 12-month period. Going beyond 4 weeks of unpaid absence, outside of specific exceptions, is a reportable change of circumstances and may trigger curtailment of the worker's leave.
How to report this on Borderless
When a sponsored worker's cumulative unpaid absence exceeds 4 weeks in any 12-month period, raise it as an employee Change of Circumstance in Borderless. Go to Cases in the sidebar, select the Changes of Circumstance tab, click Create, select Employee, and choose Long-term absence (or Unexplained absence if the worker is absent without contact for 10 or more consecutive working days). Our immigration team will review the submission and report it to the Home Office via the Sponsor Management System on your behalf within the 10-working-day window.
For a full walkthrough of the Change of Circumstance flow, see Reporting a Change of Circumstance. For the full list of reportable employee events, see What to report as Change of Circumstance for Sponsored Employees.
The 4-week threshold
Unpaid leave of 4 weeks or less in any 12-month period does not trigger a reporting obligation, provided it is authorised by the sponsor and the worker returns to their sponsored role. Beyond 4 weeks cumulative, the absence is reportable within 10 working days of the breach, and the Home Office may curtail the worker's visa.
The threshold is cumulative, not consecutive. A worker who takes 2 weeks of unpaid leave in June and another 3 weeks in September has exceeded the threshold and the second period must be reported.
Exceptions
The following periods of unpaid absence do not count toward the 4-week cumulative threshold:
Statutory maternity, paternity, shared parental, or adoption leave
Sickness absence certified by a doctor, which is assessed separately under the sickness rules
Jury service
Emergencies such as serious illness or bereavement involving an immediate family member, provided the absence is short
Authorised unpaid leave falling within a planned business closure such as a Christmas shutdown
What to report and when
If a worker's unpaid absences exceed 4 weeks cumulatively in any 12-month period, the sponsor must report this within 10 working days of the breach. On Borderless this is submitted via Cases → Changes of Circumstance (see Reporting a Change of Circumstance); our immigration team submits it to the Home Office via the Sponsor Management System on your behalf. The submission should set out the dates, the reason, and the anticipated return to work.
Curtailment discretion
The Home Office has discretion over whether to curtail the worker's leave following a breach. Factors it will consider include the length of the absence, the reason, whether the worker has returned to the sponsored role, and the sponsor's overall reporting record. Not every breach ends in curtailment, but every breach must be reported.
Police bail and involuntary absences
Absences caused by police bail conditions, remand, or similar involuntary situations should still be reported as unpaid absence once the 4-week threshold is reached. The sponsor should not continue to pay the worker for periods they have not worked and cannot work.
Record-keeping
Sponsors must keep a record of all absences for each sponsored worker, including the dates, whether paid or unpaid, and the reason. Borderless stores the Change of Circumstance submissions you raise (visible under Cases → Changes of Circumstance) and any supporting documents you upload to the worker's profile, but you should also keep your own internal absence log (for example in your HRIS or payroll) so you can produce a full record on Home Office request. Absence records are reviewable during a Home Office compliance check and must be produced on request.