The Home Office have published a new statement of changes to the Immigration Rules, which will come into force on 9 April 2025.
We have already covered the upcoming immigration fee increases, taking effect on 9 April 2025. Concurrent with those fee increases, other changes to the Immigration Rules will come into force from 9 April 2025. These alterations are too numerous to cover in one easily-digestible article, but we have addressed some of the most impactful changes below.
Deductions from Skilled Worker salaries
As from 9 April 2025, any deductions from a Skilled Worker’s salary will reduce that worker’s salary for the purposes of meeting the salary threshold and going rate requirements under the Skilled Worker route.
This means that a Skilled Worker who is, on paper, paid over the salary threshold and going rate for their occupation code, might not meet the salary requirements if deductions are made from their wages. This could mean that the Skilled Worker application fails in the first place – or, if the worker is already sponsored, that the sponsor risks committing a serious breach of their sponsorship obligations.
Deductions relating to immigration costs or business or investment costs, as well as loan repayments, will all reduce the worker’s salary for salary threshold purposes. However, deductions that relate to an additional benefit that the worker has genuinely chosen – such as salary sacrifice arrangements or purchasing additional holiday days – will not be considered to reduce the net salary.
The biggest risk posed by this change is likely to be in respect of immigration costs. Some sponsors choose to pay the cost of an applicant’s Immigration Health Surcharge and visa application fee up front, and then seek to recover the cost of these fees through monthly deductions from the worker’s wages. If those deductions bring the Skilled Worker below the salary or going rate threshold, the sponsor will be in breach of their sponsorship obligations.
While it can be understood that this change is seeking to reduce the exploitation of Skilled Workers and ensure that the salary and going rate thresholds are effective in practice, the new position does appear somewhat incoherent. If a sponsor requires the Skilled Worker to pay these fees themselves, then there will be no risk to the sponsor of falling afoul of the new rules. By contrast, if the sponsor instead agrees to pay the fees up front and make monthly deductions from salary, to ease the immediate financial burden on the worker, they run the risk of being in breach.
We are aware that some employers treat the payment of immigration costs as a benefit-in-kind and therefore include these on HMRC form P11D. The statement of changes does not provide any guidance on this approach. We would therefore urge employers to seek advice before any immigration costs are passed to employees, whether through loans or deductions from wages.
As mentioned, investments made by a Skilled Worker into the sponsor business will also count as deductions for the purposes of this new rule. This is likely to catch out off-shore business owners looking to “self-sponsor”. The risks associated with self-sponsorship have always been high, but this change will make it incredibly difficult for a shareholder to adequately invest into their business while also receiving their salary – the salary they receive would have to exceed their investment into the business (and then some, to cover the salary threshold and going rate for their role), meaning that they would be making net withdrawals from the business. That is unlikely to be a workable option for most business owners, and demonstrates the Home Office’s growing focus on tackling self-sponsorship.
New requirements on care sponsors
We have previously addressed the Home Office’s increased scrutiny on the care sector, further to reports of abuse and exploitation by some rogue sponsors, and the difficulties that this has caused for care sector sponsors looking to hire care workers from abroad.
With this latest statement of changes, the Home Office have gone one step further. From 9 April 2025, prior to attempting to sponsor new care workers, care sector sponsors will need to demonstrate that they first attempted to employ displaced care workers in the UK, who have been left without work due to their former employer’s sponsor licence being revoked.
Care sector sponsors will need to provide evidence from the relevant regional or sub-regional partnership looking after these abandoned workers, confirming that they initially tried to recruit from this pool and that no suitable workers were available.
This new requirement only applies in England, and does not apply where the sponsor is looking to hire a worker who is already sponsored in a care role in the UK or who is switching from another visa route after having been lawfully employed by a sponsor for at least three months.
While the intentions behind this change are good, it will inevitably make the process of sponsoring and hiring workers from overseas even more difficult for care sector sponsors. We understand that some care sector sponsors are finding it difficult to obtain quick responses from the regional and sub-regional partnerships mentioned above, which will only cause further delay in filling vacancies in the care sector. If the Home Office is to enforce this new rule, measures must surely be taken to ensure the responsiveness and cooperation of these partnerships.
Skilled Worker salary thresholds and going rates
Currently, health and care workers and certain visa-extension applicants under the Skilled Worker route benefit from a discounted minimum salary threshold of £23,200 per annum (or £11.90 per hour). This will increase to £25,000 per annum (or £12.82 per hour) from 9 April 2025.
The going rates for certain education and healthcare occupations are also increasing, in line with national pay scales.
Conclusion
These changes are relatively significant for Skilled Worker sponsors, particularly those in the care sector and those who look to make deductions from their sponsored workers’ salaries.
If you require any advice regarding sponsorship, please do get in touch at [email protected]
