Minimum Salary Changes

14th April 2023

The Home Office has recently issued some amendments to the Immigration Rules as contained in the most recent Statement of Changes.

UKVI Minimum Salary Thresholds

If you sponsor overseas workers there are several minimum salary requirement changes which are likely to impact your business.

The following changes, relating to sponsored worker salary requirements, came into force on 12 April 2023:

  1. The minimum gross annual salary for a skilled worker is increasing from £25,600 to £26,200
  2. The minimum hourly rate for a skilled worker is increasing from £10.10 to £10.75 
  3. The minimum gross annual salary for shortage occupation list (SOL) roles, certain Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) roles, new entrants, and certain healthcare roles is increasing from £20,480 to £20,960
  4. Going rates will now be based on a 37.5-hour working week rather than a 39-hour working week.

     

As a result of these changes, any certificate of sponsorship (CoS) requests moving forward should be made in line with the new minimum salaries.

Please note, that sponsored workers already in the UK or those who submit their visa applications prior to 12 April, will not need to have their salaries increased to match these new UKVI requirements immediately.

 
National Minimum Wage

The national minimum wage rates increased from the 1st April 2023. Please see below table for specific rates:

Rate from April 2023

Annual increase (£)

Annual increase (per cent)

National Living Wage

£10.42

0.92

21–22-Year-Old Rate

£10.18

1.00

18–20-Year-Old Rate

£7.49

0.66

16–17-Year-Old Rate

£5.28

0.47

Apprentice Rate

£5.28

0.47

Accommodation Offset

£9.10

0.40

All employees, including sponsored workers, will need to meet the applicable minimum hourly rate. 

 
What do these changes mean in practice?

Any CoS already issued by the Home Office and on your sponsor management system (SMS) ready to be assigned will still be valid. Although, when these CoS are ready to be assigned, you may need to adjust accordingly if they fall below the legal NMW requirement which increased from 1st April 2023. Caseworkers will be checking these requirements as they come through.

We would recommend that any new CoS you request or assign from now going forward meet or exceed the new UKVI minimum salary thresholds.

Any existing sponsored employees will need to meet or exceed the new legal NMW threshold from 1st April 2023, as per the rest of your workforce.

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