On 12 March 2025, the UK government published the latest Statement of changes to the Immigration Rues, introducing significant amendments to the Skilled Worker visa route, which are effective from 9 April 2025. These changes impact care workers, salary thresholds, and employer obligations.
What does this mean for employers and workers in the sector?
Stricter Rules on Salary Deductions & Sponsorship Costs
The government continues its efforts to combat exploitation in the care sector. As well as reporting that it has revoked over 470 sponsor licences since July 2022, its new Immigration Rules explicitly forbidding employers to pass sponsorship costs onto workers, in efforts to curb financial abuse and ensure fair treatment. New measures will prevent workers from funding their own sponsorship costs and ensure salary deductions are fair. Employers attempting to evade these regulations risk sponsor licence revocation.
Updated recruitment rules for care workers
Under the updated rules, care providers sponsoring care workers in England must prove they have tried to recruit UK-based care workers before sponsoring new recruits from other immigration routes or hiring from overseas.
The Home Office and Department of Health and Social Care undertook extensive engagement with the care sector, through which it became apparent that there are a number of overseas care workers displaced within the UK as a result of non-compliant sponsors losing their licence. So, this change is aimed at helping those already in the UK who have been affected back into work within the care sector.
Sponsors must provide confirmation from the relevant regional or sub-regional partnership that they have made genuine efforts to recruit from this existing pool of workers and confirm that no suitable workers were available from this pool. These rules do not apply to Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland. Regional partnership contact details can be found here: Support offer to international ASC workers whose employer's sponsor licence has been revoked.
Minimum salary threshold increases
Another key change is the increase in minimum salary floor for Skilled Worker visa applicants. The Skilled Worker visa salary baseline has risen from £23,200 to £25,000 per year (£12.82 per hour).
For those working under Agenda for Change (AFC) payscales, the current entry level Band 3 salary are no longer eligible for sponsorship. It remains to be seen whether the AFC pay review for 2025/26 takes it up above the new £25,000 threshold. For workers already sponsored, their current visas remain valid until renewal.
Employers must ensure compliance, as failure to meet salary requirements may lead to visa refusals or penalties.
‘New Entrant’ Salary Discounts
These ‘salary discounts’, which mean that a lower salary threshold can be applied, is be subject to a new and additional requirement to the criteria already in place: they will now only apply if an applicant’s training qualification is from the UK. The aim is to prevent misuse of salary reductions and ensures proper professional development.
Further details on the ‘new entrant’ criteria can be found here: Skilled Worker caseworker guidance (accessible) - GOV.UK
Next steps
Employers must adapt their hiring processes and comply with new recruitment and salary rules.
Care providers must work with regional partnerships to confirm recruitment efforts before seeking to sponsor a new overseas worker.
Workers should ensure they meet salary thresholds and take advantage of the new priority hiring rules.
Guidance relating to these rules changes have been updated and placed on the GOV.UK website.
More to come
The changes to the Skilled Worker route are part of a wider effort to align the immigration system with domestic workforce planning. In addition, the government is expected to provide further details in the upcoming Immigration White Paper (expected “spring 2025”), which will also outline long-term strategies for reducing reliance on international recruitment and strengthening the domestic social care workforce.
Employers and visa applicants should stay informed and seek expert guidance to navigate the evolving UK immigration landscape.
