diff --git a/providers/mock/mock.go b/providers/mock/mock.go
index 55713bb04..b48208c01 100644
--- a/providers/mock/mock.go
+++ b/providers/mock/mock.go
@@ -190,8 +190,7 @@ func (p *MockProvider) GetPod(ctx context.Context, namespace, name string) (pod
 	if pod, ok := p.pods[key]; ok {
 		return pod, nil
 	}
-
-	return nil, nil
+	return nil, strongerrors.NotFound(fmt.Errorf("pod \"%s/%s\" is not known to the provider", namespace, name))
 }
 
 // GetContainerLogs retrieves the logs of a container by name from the provider.
@@ -255,7 +254,7 @@ func (p *MockProvider) GetPodStatus(ctx context.Context, namespace, name string)
 
 	pod, err := p.GetPod(ctx, namespace, name)
 	if err != nil {
-		return status, err
+		return nil, err
 	}
 
 	for _, container := range pod.Spec.Containers {
diff --git a/vkubelet/vkubelet.go b/vkubelet/vkubelet.go
index 9512afd7b..549351f01 100644
--- a/vkubelet/vkubelet.go
+++ b/vkubelet/vkubelet.go
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ type Server struct {
 	provider        providers.Provider
 	resourceManager *manager.ResourceManager
 	podSyncWorkers  int
-	podCh           chan *podNotification
 	podInformer     corev1informers.PodInformer
 }
 
@@ -54,11 +53,6 @@ type APIConfig struct {
 	Addr     string
 }
 
-type podNotification struct {
-	pod *corev1.Pod
-	ctx context.Context
-}
-
 // New creates a new virtual-kubelet server.
 func New(ctx context.Context, cfg Config) (s *Server, retErr error) {
 	s = &Server{
@@ -69,7 +63,6 @@ func New(ctx context.Context, cfg Config) (s *Server, retErr error) {
 		resourceManager: cfg.ResourceManager,
 		provider:        cfg.Provider,
 		podSyncWorkers:  cfg.PodSyncWorkers,
-		podCh:           make(chan *podNotification, cfg.PodSyncWorkers),
 		podInformer:     cfg.PodInformer,
 	}