UK Skilled Worker visa salary thresholds rise in April 2026 | Skilledjobs | Skilled Jobs
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UK Skilled Worker visa salary thresholds rise in April 2026
By Sarah Jones
The UK will lift the general minimum salary threshold for new Skilled Worker visa applications to £41,700 from April 2026, a jump of £3,000 above the £38,700 floor that came into force in April 2024, according to Home Office announcements cited by immigration practitioners. The change applies to applications submitted on or after the first day of the first full pay period beginning in April 2026, creating a staggered effective date that varies by employer payroll cycle.
UK Skilled Worker Visa previously operated under different rules—see our archive coverage for the pre-2024 regime.
The April 2026 increase marks the second stage of a two-step reform announced in late 2023. Employers who lodged a certificate of sponsorship before 4 April 2024 may continue renewing those assignments under the old £26,200 general minimum until the underlying CoS expires, Barar Associates notes, though any new CoS issued after that date must meet the higher threshold.
General threshold and going-rate floors
From April 2026 every Skilled Worker application will need to satisfy three salary tests simultaneously: the general minimum, the going rate for the specific Standard Occupational Classification code, and—for degree-level roles classified at Regulated Qualifications Framework Level 6 or above—a separate RQF Level 6 minimum.
The general threshold rises to £41,700. The going rate remains occupation-specific; each four-digit SOC code carries its own annual floor, typically set at or above the twenty-fifth percentile of earnings for that occupation as reported by the Office for National Statistics, Gulbenkian Solicitors explains. Where the going rate exceeds £41,700, the higher figure governs.
A software developer classified under SOC 2135 with a published going rate of £45,000 would need at least £45,000, not £41,700. Conversely, a role with a going rate of £40,000 would still require £41,700 because the general threshold prevails.
RQF Level 6 minimum
Jobs deemed to require a UK bachelor's degree or equivalent—RQF Level 6—face an additional floor of £46,200 from April 2026, Gherson reports. This bracket covers most professional and managerial occupations, including engineers, accountants, IT project managers, architects, and medical practitioners outside the NHS shortage list.
The highest of the three thresholds—general, going rate, or RQF Level 6—determines the actual minimum. A civil engineer in SOC 2121 with a going rate of £44,000 would still need £46,200 if the role requires degree-level qualifications.
RQF Level 6 does not apply to every Skilled Worker occupation. Roles classified below degree level—certain technician, associate professional, and skilled trades positions—are tested only against the general and going-rate minima, even when the going rate sits above £46,200.
Pay-period timing and transitional protection
The April 2026 thresholds take effect on the first day of the first complete pay period beginning in April 2026, IAS Services states. An employer paying monthly on the twenty-eighth will see the new rules apply from 28 April 2026; one paying on the fifteenth will cross over on 15 April 2026. Weekly payrolls face the earliest trigger date.
Transitional relief shields existing sponsorships. Any certificate of sponsorship assigned before 4 April 2024 can be extended or renewed at the original £26,200 general minimum—or the lower of the old and new going rates—until the CoS is withdrawn, expires, or the individual changes employer, Barar Associates confirms. Switching employer, even within the same corporate group, terminates this protection and subjects the new application to the prevailing threshold.
The transitional window does not extend indefinitely. Skilled Worker visas are typically granted for up to five years, so CoS issued in early 2024 may carry grandfathered rates through to 2029, but any application filed after April 2026 under a fresh CoS must clear the £41,700 or £46,200 bar.
New-entrant and shortage-occupation discounts
New entrants—broadly defined as applicants under twenty-six, those switching from a Student visa, or postdoctoral researchers—may apply a discount that sets the general minimum at seventy per cent of the standard threshold, Moving to the UK notes. From April 2026 that translates to £29,190, calculated as seventy per cent of £41,700, or seventy per cent of the going rate if that figure is lower, subject to an absolute floor of £29,190.
The new-entrant concession lasts four years from first entry in the Skilled Worker route. After that window closes, any extension or renewal must meet the full threshold even if the individual remains with the same sponsor.
Shortage occupations published on the Immigration Salary List attract a separate discount, again setting the floor at seventy per cent of the going rate with a minimum of £29,190, Jobbatical reports. The shortage list is periodically revised; roles added or removed mid-sponsorship can shift an applicant in or out of eligibility for the discount at the next renewal.
Health and care workers employed by organisations on the Home Office register of licensed care sponsors benefit from a separate minimum of £23,200, unchanged from the 2024 settlement, NHS Employers confirms. This carve-out does not extend to private hospitals or clinics outside the care-sector licensing framework.
Calculation of salary
Salary is defined as gross base pay before tax and National Insurance, excluding bonuses, commission, overtime, employer pension contributions, and benefits in kind, DLA Piper states. Guaranteed allowances that appear in every pay period—such as a fixed London weighting payable twelve months a year—may be included if the employment contract specifies the amount and frequency.
The Home Office annualises salary for part-time workers on a pro-rata basis. A role with a going rate of £45,000 worked at thirty hours per week rather than the standard thirty-seven and a half would require a proportionately lower absolute salary, but the hourly rate must still equate to the full-time threshold. In practice, employers calculate the weekly or hourly equivalent and demonstrate compliance through payroll records.
Variable hours and piece-rate contracts face additional scrutiny. The applicant must show that average earnings over the most recent twelve months, or the guaranteed minimum stated in the contract, meet the threshold. Home Office caseworkers may request payslips, P60 forms, and employment contracts to verify the calculation.
Implications for employers and applicants
The April 2026 increase compresses the pool of SOC codes that remain viable at the general threshold. Occupations with going rates below £41,700—often concentrated in business administration, sales, and certain creative roles—may fall out of scope unless the employer can justify a higher salary or the position qualifies for new-entrant or shortage relief.
Employers renewing Skilled Worker sponsorships in late 2025 should confirm whether the current salary will remain compliant after April 2026. A modest pay rise timed before the threshold change can preserve continuity and avoid a mid-year scramble to top up compensation or seek alternative visa categories.
Foreign nationals already holding Skilled Worker status under a pre-April 2024 CoS retain transitional protection, but any new role, promotion that triggers a new CoS, or switch to a different sponsor will crystallise liability under the higher threshold. This dynamic creates an incentive to extend existing sponsorships rather than move laterally, potentially reducing labour mobility within the UK market.
Graduate trainees switching from a Student visa should evaluate whether to move directly into a permanent Skilled Worker role or first take a Graduate visa—which imposes no salary floor—and delay the Skilled Worker application until base pay reaches £41,700 or they qualify for new-entrant relief. The latter route preserves two years of unrestricted work rights but postpones access to settlement.
Comparison with other routes
The Skilled Worker visa remains the principal employment-based route for non-UK nationals. The Global Business Mobility routes—Senior or Specialist Worker, Graduate Trainee, and Service Supplier—carry separate salary and experience criteria tied to intra-corporate transfers rather than open labour-market recruitment.
High Potential Individual visas, available to recent graduates of top-ranked universities, impose no minimum salary but offer only two or three years' leave with no direct path to settlement. Scale-up visas, restricted to employees of government-certified high-growth companies, require £37,700 for new-entrant-age applicants and the general threshold otherwise; the Scale-up route grants six months of sponsor-independent work rights after the initial sponsorship period.
Innovator Founder visas target entrepreneurs rather than employees and demand endorsement from an approved body plus evidence of at least £50,000 in investment funds, making them unsuitable for salaried professionals. The Youth Mobility Scheme, open to eighteen-to-thirty-year-olds from certain countries, imposes no salary floor but grants only two years and no settlement rights.
In practice, applicants whose salary falls between £30,000 and £41,700 and who cannot claim new-entrant or shortage relief face diminishing options. The Global Talent visa, reserved for individuals with proven eminence in science, engineering, humanities, medicine, digital technology, or arts and culture, requires endorsement by a designated competent body and offers no salary threshold, but the endorsement bar is high.
Compliance and enforcement
UK Visas and Immigration conducts periodic audits of licensed sponsors, examining payroll records, employment contracts, and right-to-work documentation. Underpayment—defined as salary falling more than ten per cent below the stated threshold for three consecutive months—can trigger a compliance investigation and potential revocation of the sponsor licence, IAS Services warns.
Salary reductions initiated by the employer, even when agreed by the employee, must be reported to the Home Office within ten working days if they push remuneration below the threshold. Failure to report can result in a civil penalty of up to £20,000 per worker and suspension of the sponsor's ability to issue new certificates of sponsorship.
Workers whose salary drops below the minimum due to unpaid leave, reduced hours, or other changes must either restore compliant pay within the reporting period or curtail their visa. The curtailment obligation rests with the individual, though sponsors are expected to withdraw the CoS and notify the Home Office once they become aware of non-compliance.
Outlook
The two-stage increase—£38,700 in April 2024 and £41,700 in April 2026—reflects a policy objective articulated by the Home Office to reduce net migration and ensure that sponsored workers contribute above the median full-time salary in the UK economy. The Migration Advisory Committee's 2023 report, which informed the threshold design, noted that a floor indexed to median earnings would rise annually with inflation and wage growth, though the government has not yet legislated automatic indexation.
Subsequent adjustments beyond April 2026 remain subject to ministerial discretion. The Spring Budget or Autumn Statement in 2026 may signal whether the government intends to link the Skilled Worker threshold to an earnings index, as occurs with other immigration routes such as the financial-independence requirement for spouse visas.
Practitioners expect the RQF Level 6 minimum to widen the gap between graduate and non-graduate occupations, with implications for sectors—technology, finance, engineering—that recruit heavily from overseas degree holders. Employers unable or unwilling to meet £46,200 for junior professional roles may shift recruitment toward new-entrant candidates or lobby for additions to the Immigration Salary List to unlock the seventy-per-cent discount.
The transitional protection for pre-April 2024 CoS will phase out organically as sponsorships expire or workers change employer, leaving the higher thresholds as the universal baseline by the end of the decade. Until then, two parallel salary regimes will coexist within the Skilled Worker population.