Salary Requirements and the Immigration Skills Charge

Minimum salary thresholds

Sponsors must ensure that workers are paid at least the minimum salary required for their occupation code. For most Skilled Worker roles, the minimum is set by the going rate for that SOC code, and this must be met alongside the overall Skilled Worker minimum.

For SOC 6135 and 6136 (care workers), the current minimum is £12.82 per hour, with a minimum annual salary of £25,000.

Pay compliance from 8 April 2026

From 8 April 2026, the Home Office assesses pay compliance against every individual pay period, not against an average across a longer window. The exact mechanism depends on whether the worker is on a fixed or variable pattern.

For fixed-hours contracts, pay compliance is assessed per pay period. The worker's gross pay in each pay period must, at minimum, match the rate on their CoS. If the CoS states £12.82 per hour for 37.5 hours per week paid monthly, each monthly payslip must reflect that full rate for the contracted hours.

For variable-hours contracts, the rolling 17-week window still applies, but each 17-week window now stands as an independent assessment and cannot be used to cure a shortfall in another window. The rolling assessment continues through the life of the sponsorship.

Overtime, weekend premiums, and shift-specific uplifts still do not count toward meeting the CoS threshold. The CoS rate must be met by contracted hours at the stated base rate.

Back-checking historic pay

The 8 April 2026 rules are prospective, but the Home Office can back-check pay from 9 April 2025 onwards during a compliance visit. Sponsors should review pay records from April 2025 forward against the CoS rate and remediate any shortfalls as they are identified, reporting corrections to the Home Office where the shortfall was material.

Payslips on Borderless

Payslips issued through Borderless show gross pay, with one payslip per pay period. Borderless does not reduce or protect the figures displayed and does not aggregate across pay periods. The gross figure on each payslip is what the Home Office will assess against the CoS rate.

NMW increases and existing CoS

When the National Living Wage increases (from April each year), existing sponsored workers must have their pay increased to at least the new NMW rate if it exceeds the rate on their CoS. Employers must update their records and, if the salary changes materially, report this as a change of circumstances.

Immigration Skills Charge (ISC)

The Immigration Skills Charge is a government levy paid by sponsors for each year of sponsorship. As of December 2025, the rates are:

The ISC is paid at the point the CoS is assigned and cannot be passed on to the worker. Workers sponsored under the Health and Care Worker visa route are exempt from the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) but not from the ISC.

Costs that cannot be passed to the worker

The following costs must be borne by the employer and cannot be charged to or recovered from the worker:

Workers may pay their own government visa fee and, where applicable, the Immigration Health Surcharge, though employers may choose to cover these too.

Visa application fees from 8 April 2026

The Home Office increased most Skilled Worker visa fees on 8 April 2026. The fees below apply to main applicants and dependants.

For Health and Care Visa workers, the reduced fee structure remains in place:

For standard Skilled Worker visas (outside the UK):

For standard Skilled Worker visas (in-country applications):

Sponsors cannot pass visa application fees to workers as a condition of employment, but workers may choose to pay their own fees.

Holiday pay and salary compliance

Sponsored workers must be paid in line with the hourly rate specified on their CoS when taking annual leave, not at a lower rate. If a worker is paid at different rates for different shift types, holiday pay should reflect the appropriate average or contracted rate, not the lowest applicable rate. Paying holiday at a reduced rate can cause the worker's total annual earnings to fall below the CoS salary threshold, which constitutes a compliance breach.

Reducing contracted hours after a pay increase

If you increase a sponsored worker's hourly rate and wish to reduce their contracted hours accordingly while maintaining the same overall salary, this still constitutes a change to the worker's contracted hours and must be reported as a change of circumstance on the Sponsor Management System. You must also confirm that the worker continues to meet the relevant salary thresholds at the new hours, both the applicable hourly minimum (£12.82 for 6135/6136) and the annual minimum of £25,000, before making the change.

ISC exemptions you should know about

The Immigration Skills Charge (ISC) is payable for most Skilled Worker sponsorships, but there are specific exemptions. You do not need to pay the ISC where:

The exemption for Student and Graduate switchers is the most commonly missed. If you are sponsoring someone moving directly from a Student or Graduate visa, the ISC should not be charged. If you see an ISC line on an invoice for a switcher, contact Borderless so we can correct it before the CoS is assigned.

Government guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visa-regulations-revised-table/home-office-immigration-and-nationality-fees-8-april-2026

Government guidance: https://www.gov.uk/uk-visa-sponsorship-employers/sponsorship-charges