A Statement of Changes laid before Parliament yesterday (12 March 2025) will have an impact on the UK Immigration Rules, some of which are specifically relevant to the care sector and providers who are Home Office approved sponsors. This Statement of Changes, which was laid before Parliament yesterday, can be found here. It was accompanied by an explanatory Memorandum, which at just 20 pages in length is a much easier read, and a Ministerial Statement.
Some of the key changes are as follows:
Minimum Salary Requirements for Care Workers and Senior Care Workers
The minimum salary requirements for sponsored care workers and senior care workers will increase from £23,200 per annum (or £11.90 per hour for a minimum of 37.5 hours per week) to £25,000 per annum (or £12.82 per hour) for new Certificates of Sponsorship issued from 9 April 2025. This change was somewhat expected, given the increase to National Minimum Wage from April 2025 to £12.21 per hour for those aged 21 and over. This will be applicable to all newly sponsored care workers from 9 April 2025 and when renewing certificates of sponsorship for your existing sponsored care workers.
Emphasis on displaced care workers in England first
Changes have also been made to the Rules in response to the growing pool of workers in the skilled worker route, specifically care workers and senior care workers, who no longer have sponsorship and/or have had their visas curtailed by the Home Office, because their sponsors have been unable to offer sufficient work and/or have lost their sponsor licences. The changes require sponsors to try to recruit from this pool of workers before seeking to sponsor new recruits from other immigration routes or from overseas on defined Certificates of Sponsorship. This change will also “go live” from 9 April 2025 and will only apply to providers with working locations entirely in England; applications relating to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are unaffected.
The explanatory Memorandum confirms that “to enforce this requirement, sponsors must provide confirmation from the relevant regional or sub-regional partnership that they have tried to recruit in this way, and confirm that no suitable workers were available from this pool.” The changes do not apply where a provider is seeking to sponsor someone switching from another immigration route, who has already been working for them for at least three months. This new Rule specifically relates to the care worker (6135) and senior care worker (6136) SOC Codes and therefore not to nurses or other skilled workers sponsored in the care setting. We don’t yet have any further information as to what this will look like in practice and how stringently this will be implemented by the Home Office, but definitely one to watch in the coming months. It is probable that this will mean that defined Certificate of Sponsorship applications are even more onerous for care providers, but not insurmountable with the right support.
Deductions from a Sponsored Workers Salary
One of the most significant changes is a new Rule specifically relating to deductions from a sponsored workers salary, which will apply to Certificates of Sponsorship issued after 9 April 2025. It is already the case that sponsors are prohibited from clawing back the Immigration Skills Charge from their sponsored workers, as well the fee for assigning the Certificate of Sponsorship and any associated costs with managing their sponsor licence. To do so, amounts to a serious breach of the provider’s sponsor duties.
The new Rule goes further than this and states:
“SW 14.2A. Any money paid by the applicant to the sponsor (or a related organisation) will be considered as follows:
- The following payments will be subtracted from salary, unless (c) applies:
(i) deductions from salary; or
(ii) repayments of loans; or
(iii) investments
- Any such subtractions will be averaged over the length of time the applicant is being sponsored for, for the purpose of salary considerations.
- Money will not be deducted where the payment is not related to business costs, immigration costs or investment, but rather an additional benefit offer which the applicant has a genuine choice whether to take up, for example salary sacrifice arrangements.”
Previously other deductions from a sponsored workers salary were permitted in certain circumstances, provided that an enforceable clawback agreement with the worker is in place and employment provisions were properly followed. This new Rule suggests that these deductions will now be discounted from the worker’s annual salary for visa purposes in some circumstances, which may mean that the worker’s salary falls below the minimum salary requirement, and they are not being paid in line with their Certificate of Sponsorship. This could have disastrous consequences for a sponsor licence holder and their sponsor workers. Again, the devil is in the detail here on how this new Rule will be implemented, which we don’t have yet. We will know more in the coming weeks.
Our Immigration team has a wealth of experience in assisting care clients with managing their sponsor licences and the recruitment of international workers. If you require immigration support you can speak to one of our highly experienced professionals by calling 0345 450 5558 or by emailing enquiries@stephens-scown.co.uk.