The consequences of minimum salary corrections on visa sponsorship in work routes
09 October 2024
New Immigration Rules contain salary corrections to specific occupation codes eligible for Skilled Worker, Scale-Up and Global Business Mobility visa sponsorship. The Home Office pre-warned sponsors of salary reductions, but they did not announce that there would also be salary increases.
The Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules HC 217 and the accompanying Explanatory Memorandum were published on 10 September 2024.
Surprisingly, the Explanatory Memorandum provides only a single sentence under the section labelled 'other minor changes' to describe the details. This is misleading as the impact on you as a sponsor could be significant.
A limited number of occupation codes are impacted by salary corrections
The good news is that not all occupation codes are affected.
Occupation codes subject to salary reduction
The salary reductions are already in force as a concession outside the Rules. You can find the salary reductions in the sponsor guidance published on 10 July 2024. On 8 October 2024, the salary reductions were incorporated into Appendix Skilled Occupations, in the Immigration Rules.
In the table below, you can find a sample of commonly used occupation codes subject to some of the largest salary reductions.
Reminder:
- The ‘standard going rate’ is based on ‘tradeable points option A’ where there are no discounts available to go the going rate. It applies to workers with a CoS first assigned in their route on or after 4 April 2024.
- The ‘lower going rate’ is based on transitional ‘tradeable points option F’ where there are no discounts available to go the going rate. It applies to workers with a CoS first assigned in their route before 4 April 2024 and who have remained in the route continuously since.
| Occupation code | Standard going rate | Corrected standard going rate | Transitional going rate | Corrected transitional going rate |
| 2112 Biological scientists | £41,900 (£21.49 per hour) | £38,000 (£19.49 per hour) | £32,100 (£16.46 per hour) | £28,100 (£14.41 per hour) |
| 2141 Web design professionals | £41,300 (£21.18 per hour) | No change | £35,800 (£18.36 per hour) | £29,000 (£14.87 per hour) |
| 2142 Graphic and multimedia designers | £30,960 (£15.88 per hour) | No change | £35,800 (£18.36 per hour) | £25,100 (£12.87 per hour) |
| 3413 Actors, entertainers and presenters | £32,900 (£16.87 per hour) | £30,960 (£15.88 per hour) | £27,300 (£14.00 per hour) | £23,200 (£11.90 per hour) |
| 3512 Ship and hovercraft officers | £66,300 (£34 per hour) | £50,200 (£25.74 per hour) | £28,900 (£14.82 per hour) | No change |
| 8232 Marine and waterways transport operatives | £53,200 (£27.28) | £33,600 (£17.23 per hour) | £36,700 (£18.82 per hour) | £24,200 (£12.41 per hour) |
| Occupation code | Standard going rate | Corrected standard going rate | Transitional going rate | Corrected transitional going rate |
| 1171 Health services and public health managers and directors | £43,900 (£22.51 per hour) | £50,500 (£25.90 per hour) |
£36,900 (£18.92 per hour) |
£43,100 (£22.10 per hour) |
| 1232 Residential, day and domiciliary care managers and proprietors | £36,400 (£18.67 per hour) | £40,900 (£20.97 per hour) |
£28,700 (£14.72 per hour) |
£32,300 (£16.56 per hour) |
| 2494 Advertising accounts managers and creative directors | £40,000 (£20.51 per hour) | £43,700 (£22.41 per hour) |
£32,600 (£16.72 per hour) |
£35,000 (£17.95 per hour) |
| 5214 Pipe fitters | £31,200 (£16.00 per hour) | £38,500 (£19.74 per hour) |
£25,800 (£13.23 per hour) |
£32,900 (£16.87 per hour) |
Affected sponsors should review their visa sponsorship pipeline
- Conduct a review to identify if you have existing sponsored workers who are being sponsored under the affected occupation codes, including any upcoming new hires
- Assess how to manage this cohort now and at each stage of their immigration journey, including the extension and settlement stage
- Review any sponsorship decisions that have been made or are due to be made concerning workers in any of the affected occupation codes
- Review your internal visa sponsorship policy and check if this needs amending
Frequently Asked Questions
We have collated an FAQ to help you navigate the steps above.
If the Immigration Rules have stated an erroneous high salary rate for an occupation code, does this mean that visa applications have been decided incorrectly?
The Home Office has confirmed that applications submitted from 4 April 2024 onwards have been decided in line with the corrected lower salary figures for affected occupation codes.
As a sponsor, can I reduce a sponsored worker’s salary so that it aligns with a corrected reduced rate?
This requires careful assessment. You may wish to obtain employment and immigration advice before proceeding to reduce a sponsored worker’s salary.
Getting it wrong can result cancellation of visa sponsorship for the worker and compliance action against you, as the sponsor. You may also find that a decision to reduce a sponsored worker’s salary could raise direct and indirect discrimination issues in your workforce, as well as damaging your relationship with the sponsored worker.
Should I revisit previous decisions not to offer sponsorship in light of the salary reductions?
This is a decision for the business, but it is important to note that due to the salary reductions, there may be cohorts of workers who were previously not considered eligible for sponsorship, who may now be eligible. Similarly, there may be cohorts of workers who need less of a salary increase than previously thought to be eligible for sponsorship.
Example:
Shruti is a Skilled Worker working as a web designer on £27,000 per year. Her current unsponsored immigration permission will expire in April 2025.
When the Immigration Rules were overhauled in April 2024, her sponsor noted that Shruti would need a salary increase of £8,800 to meet the new minimum salary requirement for the role at £35,800 (£18.36 per hour). Her sponsor was concerned that they could not justify such a large salary increase to sponsor her.
It now transpires that when applying the corrected rate, Shruti would instead need a salary increase of £2,000.
When are the salary increases in force?
Salary increases came into force for any CoS assigned on or after 8 October 2024.
I am already sponsoring a worker in a code that has been subject to a salary increase. Do I need to change their salary?
No, if the worker’s CoS was assigned before 8 October 2024, you do not need to change their salary. You should be aware that when the worker applies to extend their permission or settle in due course, they will need to be paid at the revised rate. You should therefore identify the workers affected and consider whether their salary is likely to meet the revised threshold at the time they are due to make their application. If it will not, you should consider taking specific immigration and employment law advice.
I plan to sponsor a worker in an occupation code that has been subject to a salary increase. What should I do?
Anyone assigned a CoS in an affected occupation code on or after 8 October 2024 must be paid at the revised rate. You may wish to review your recruitment pipeline to identify how many workers are impacted and the evaluate the cost to the business.
Employer resource: A timeline of immigration changes impacting the minimum salary requirement
- 4 April 2024: A Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules becomes effective on 4 April 2024, resulting in the biggest reform of UK work routes since Brexit. In that update, the government significantly increases the minimum salary requirement for work routes. This was part of a plan to reduce net migration.
- 10 July 2024: The Home Office updates the sponsor guidance without notice or announcement. The sponsor guidance contains lower going rates for various occupation codes.
- 28 August 2024: The Home Office puts a notification on its Sponsor Management System for Skilled Worker sponsors, confirming that when the Immigration Rules were updated in April 2024, the going rates for some occupations were stated to be higher than intended. See our earlier article on this here.
- 10 September 2024: A Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules is published, incorporating the lower going rates in the sponsor guidance into the Immigration Rules. It also sets out which occupation codes will be subject to a (further) salary increase (due to implementing erroneously low rates in the 4 April 2024 changes).
- 8 October 2024: Appendix Skilled Occupations incorporates the salary reductions stated in the sponsor guidance as well as the new salary increases. Salary increases apply to any Certificates of Sponsorship assigned on or after 8 October 2024.
Need more information?
If you have any queries about the issues raised in this article or would like to find out about how we can help you navigate the changes, please contact a member of our immigration team.