How SponsorFlow uses AI

1. In short

SponsorFlow uses AI to read documents. Written rules decide what each reading means. A person decides every finding that is not a clean result. The AI never decides, never writes the wording of a finding, and never signs anything.

2. Which AI we use

We use Claude, made by Anthropic, through Anthropic’s API. Document reading uses Claude Opus 5. The in-app help chat uses Claude Haiku 4.5. If a request fails, it is not passed to a different model. We use no other AI provider. Anthropic is listed on our sub-processors page.

3. What the AI is asked to do

1. Sort pages. Say what kind of document each page range is, for example a passport, a payslip or a contract.
2. Read fields. For each field we name, return the value, the page it is on, and a word-for-word quote from that page.
3. Read scanned pages a second time. On a scanned page, read the fields again from the image alone, without seeing the first reading.
4. Split a candidate pack. Where one file holds several candidates, say which pages belong to which person.
5. Read a job description. Propose role details, such as the job title, for the role check.
6. Match duties to official tasks. Once a solicitor confirms the occupation code, say which official ONS SOC 2020 task each duty line in the job description is closest to. Our code checks every task it names against the stored ONS text. Any suggested wording uses only that code’s own ONS task text, and the employer adopts or rejects it.
7. Answer help questions. In the help chat, answer from our own help articles, or pass you to a person.

4. What the AI sees

Each request is about one document, and holds:

• the text of that document’s pages;
• for reading fields, the uploaded file itself: a PDF of up to 100 pages or a JPEG or PNG photo, up to 20 MB. For a candidate pack, the file is sent only where a page had to be scanned. For the second reading, the AI sees only the file;
• our fixed instructions and the list of fields to read.

Sorting pages and splitting a candidate pack use the text only. Matching duties uses only the duty lines of the job description and the official ONS task lists, not the rest of the document.

The file can be any document you or a candidate upload. That includes passport photo pages, payslips, bank statements, contracts, a DBS certificate or a TB certificate. A candidate pack can hold the documents of several people.

The help chat sees what you type and the help articles it answers from.

5. What the AI never sees

• Your password, your sign-in codes or your payment details.
• Your decisions on findings, the reasons you give, or your sign-off.
• Documents from another case or another customer. Each request holds one document.
• Your Sponsorship Management System login. SponsorFlow never asks for it or holds it.

We do not add your firm’s or employer’s name to a request, though it may be printed in the document itself.

6. What the AI does not do

• It does not decide whether a rule is met. Our rules are written down, versioned and approved, and they run as ordinary code with no AI.
• It does not write the wording of a finding. That wording comes from the approved rules catalogue.
• It does not judge a photo or a signature. It may say only whether one is present. A person confirms it.
• It does not compare faces.
• It does not give immigration or legal advice.
• It does not decide whether anyone is offered a job or sponsored.
• It does not send messages, sign packs, or change your records on its own.

7. How we check what the AI reads

• The quote must be on the page. Our code checks that each quote appears on the page the AI named, that it carries the field’s own label, and that the value can be read straight from the quote without arithmetic.
• Two readers on scanned pages. On a scanned page, a value counts only when the text reading and the image reading agree.
• Passport check digits. Where a passport’s machine-readable check digits fail, the fields they protect are not treated as checked.
• Nothing unchecked is used. A value that fails any check is marked unchecked and shown to you with the reason. The rules never use it.
• No guessing. If the AI declines, runs out of room or returns something we cannot read, the document is marked for review.

8. People decide

• A person confirms each document’s type before a pack can be signed.
• Every finding that is not a clean result needs a decision from a person: accept it, override it with a written reason, or ask for a document.
• Only a solicitor at the law firm can sign an Appendix D pack.
• Role details read from a job description, and case facts taken from documents, are proposals. They count only once a person confirms them.
• Suggested wording for a job description is used only when the firm records that the employer confirms it describes what the person really does, and it changes the job description only when the employer adopts it.

9. How Anthropic handles the data

Transfers are covered by the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (Modules Two and Three) with the UK International Data Transfer Addendum, as incorporated in Anthropic’s Data Processing Addendum (effective 24 February 2025). Under that addendum Anthropic processes the data only to provide or maintain its services, deletes it within 30 days of the end of the agreement (subject to legal, dispute and abuse-prevention exceptions), gives notice of any new sub-processor with 15 days to object, and is audited annually (SOC 2 reports at trust.anthropic.com). Anthropic’s Commercial Terms (effective 17 June 2025, section B) state that it “may not train models on Customer Content from Services”.

Anthropic processes the data in the United States. The transfer safeguards are set out in Section 7.1 of the Data Processing Agreement and on our sub-processors page.

How long Anthropic keeps each request after answering it: we have not arranged zero data retention with Anthropic, so Anthropic’s standard retention for its commercial API applies.

10. What we keep

The AI’s readings, with their quotes and page numbers, are stored in SponsorFlow as part of the case, so you can see where each value came from. Our logs record the request type, counts and cost. They do not record the values, the quotes or the page text.

11. Candidates and workers

A candidate who uses an upload link is told, before they send anything, that their documents are read partly by software, including AI, and that our AI provider is in the United States. The full notice is in section P7 of the pre-hire candidate upload schedule.

12. Questions

Questions about how SponsorFlow uses AI: legal@everyguard.uk. Friam’s company-wide AI Ethics & Transparency Policy also applies.