If you are sponsoring a worker under the Skilled Worker visa route, salary is one of the areas where a case can look fine at first glance but still run into trouble. A lot of employers focus on 1 headline figure and assume that if the annual salary looks high enough, the application should be safe.
In practice, that is not how the rules work. You usually need to meet both the general salary threshold and the going rate for the occupation code, and the Home Office will expect the higher requirement to be met unless a lower-paid option genuinely applies. The standard general threshold is now £41,700 per year for most new Skilled Worker cases.
That is why salary planning should never be treated as a box-ticking exercise. You need the job title, duties, occupation code, weekly hours and Certificate of Sponsorship details to line up properly. If 1 of those pieces is wrong, the salary analysis can also be wrong. This is exactly why it helps to review SOC codes and job descriptions early rather than waiting until the CoS is ready to be assigned.
Why you have to pass 2 salary tests, not 1
For most applicants, the rules do not ask whether the salary is simply “good enough” in a general sense. They ask whether it meets the applicable general threshold and the applicable going rate for the role. If the going rate is higher than the general threshold, the sponsor must pay at least the going rate. If the going rate is lower, the sponsor must still meet the general threshold.
That catches people out more often than you might expect. A role offered at £42,000 may sound comfortably above the standard threshold, but if the occupation code has a going rate of £45,000, that salary would still not satisfy the usual Skilled Worker rules. So the right question is not “Have we cleared £41,700?” but “Have we cleared the right figure for this exact job under this exact code?”
The general threshold in real-life terms
For most new Skilled Worker cases, the standard general threshold is £41,700 a year. However, the calculation is not always as simple as multiplying an hourly rate by very long working weeks.
The Home Office only counts salary for up to 48 hours per week when checking whether the general threshold is met. If someone is working part-time, the Home Office looks at their actual gross earnings, not a full-time equivalent. So a role that looks acceptable on a pro-rated basis can still fail if the actual annual pay is too low.
This matters in practice for employers who are trying to make a role fit the route by adjusting hours, overtime or working patterns. It also matters for businesses setting up sponsorship systems for the first time through a Sponsor Licence Application, because salary mistakes made at the start often continue all the way through to the visa stage.
The going rate is more technical than many sponsors expect
The going rate is tied to the occupation code, not just the job title used internally by the employer. For most Skilled Worker roles, the published annual rates are based on a 37.5-hour week and must be pro-rated according to the weekly hours stated on the CoS. Unlike the general threshold calculation, the going-rate calculation takes the worker’s full weekly hours into account, even if they work more than 48 hours.
That difference is crucial. It means a salary can pass 1 test and fail the other. The general threshold and the going rate are related, but they are not calculated in exactly the same way. That is 1 of the reasons why getting your Certificates of Sponsorship right is so important. If the hours on the CoS, the job description and the salary figure do not all match properly, the case becomes harder to defend.
When a lower salary may still be allowed
Not every Skilled Worker applicant has to meet the full standard threshold. The rules allow some lower-paid options, but only in specific circumstances. For standard-rate cases under Options B to E, the main discounted thresholds are currently £37,500 for a relevant PhD, £33,400 for a relevant STEM PhD, £33,400 for a job on the Immigration Salary List, and £33,400 for a new entrant. The going-rate requirement may also reduce to 90%, 80% or 70% depending on which option applies.
There is an important distinction here. If the role is on the Immigration Salary List, the general threshold can be discounted to £33,400, but the worker still usually has to be paid the full going rate for that occupation code. By contrast, a genuine new entrant can benefit from both a reduced general threshold and a reduced going-rate requirement at 70% of the full rate.
There are also lower-rate arrangements for people who were first sponsored before 4 April 2024 and have continually held Skilled Worker permission since then. In those cases, the general threshold can be £31,300, with lower discounted figures such as £25,000 in some categories, including certain Immigration Salary List cases.
Common salary problems sponsors run into
A lot of salary issues come back to 4 recurring mistakes.
The first is choosing the wrong occupation code. If the code is wrong, the going rate is wrong from the outset. The second is misunderstanding hours, especially where employers assume the same approach applies to both salary tests.
The third is relying on future salary increases or loosely described allowances instead of confirming what salary actually counts under the rules. The fourth is internal inconsistency, where HR, finance and the Level 1 user are not all working from the same information.
This is where pages such as key personnel on a sponsor licence, Sponsor Licence Compliance and sponsor licence renewals and extensions become relevant. Salary compliance is not just about getting a visa granted once. It is part of the sponsor’s wider compliance position, and weak systems can create problems later if the Home Office reviews the licence.
A sensible way to handle salary checks
In practice, the safest approach is to work in order. First, confirm the role is genuinely eligible. Next, identify the correct occupation code.
Then check whether the worker is a standard-rate applicant or whether a valid lower-paid option applies. After that, calculate the general threshold and the going rate separately, using the exact weekly hours that will appear on the CoS. Finally, make sure the wording across the offer, payroll setup and sponsorship records is consistent.
If the worker is moving from another route, it is also worth checking switching routes into Skilled Worker sponsorship and switching to a Skilled Worker visa after study, because timing and transitional rules can change the salary picture. If you are budgeting for multiple hires, sponsor licence costs and long-term workforce planning should also be part of the discussion.
Final thoughts
Skilled Worker salary rules are manageable, but they are not something you should guess your way through. In most cases, you need to satisfy both the general threshold and the going rate, and the current standard benchmark for new Skilled Worker cases is £41,700 unless a specific lower-paid option properly applies.
The detail matters: occupation code, weekly hours, CoS wording, and whether a discount is genuinely available. Done properly, this reduces the risk of refusal and helps protect your licence position at the same time.
If you want tailored advice on salary planning, role coding, sponsorship strategy or ongoing compliance, contact Garth Coates Solicitors to discuss your case before you assign the CoS or submit the application.
