Immigration updates for the care sector

The Home Office have recently announced changes which we expect to have a significant impact on Sponsors in the Health and Care Sector. These changes relate to salary, salary deductions, and recruitment.

As part of its continued crackdown on sponsor licences in the care sector, the Home Office has recently announced a host of changes which will affect sponsors. While these may have worthy aims of preventing worker exploitation and unfair working practices, we expect this to have a significant impact on employers, many of whom already struggle to recruit and maintain a workforce in this sector.

With more than 470 sponsor licences being revoked between July 2022 and December 2024, compliance with the Immigration Rules and duties as a sponsor is particularly important.

We’ve summarised the changes below. Whilst we think this will be particularly important to the sponsors of Health and Care worker visa holders (care workers under SOC 6135 and senior care workers under SOC 6136), these are also consequences for the sponsors of skilled workers more generally.

Salary thresholds

The minimum salary threshold has been raised from £23,200 to £25,000, equivalent to an increase from £11.90 per hour to £12.82 per hour.

The new rate applies to any new Certificate of Sponsorship being assigned to a worker from 9 April 2025. This includes any new applications, changes of employment, switching visa category, or extensions. Salaries do not have to be raised for the remainder of their Leave to Remain covered by an existing Certificate of Sponsorship.

Salary deductions

There are now rules specifically stating that certain payments must be subtracted from the salary listed on the Certificate of Sponsorship. This includes deductions from salary, repayments of loans, and investments. Various examples are explicitly mentioned including business costs, immigration costs and investments.

We expect that this may become an issue for companies where the common practice is to loan employees the cost of the application fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge, and then to claim this back from salary. With the fees steeply rising in recent years, it has become more of a burden for employees to pay outright. We note that the Immigration Health Surcharge isn’t payable for Health and Care visa holders, but it will be payable for other sponsored workers at care homes, such as a chef.

Where a sponsored worker’s salary is at, or very close to, the threshold as above, we urge employers to be cautious about any agreed deductions to salary. We are expecting further guidance on these deductions in future, which may be helpful. However, the key takeaway is to expect scrutiny. 

The rules do state that the salary will not be considered to have reduced where there is an ‘additional benefit’ which the applicant has made a ‘genuine choice’ to take up. This would include a salary sacrifice scheme like cycle to work, which is available to everyone at the company.

Example 1 - Chef sponsored on Skilled Worker visa
The worker’s contractual salary is £25,000/annum. The worker borrowed £3,105 from the employer (the cost of 3 years Immigration Health Surcharge) and agreed to pay this back in monthly deductions to salary over the course of 1 year. Now, the relevant salary for the Certificate of Sponsorship would be £21,895, and the job is no longer eligible for sponsorship.

Example 2 - Care worker sponsored on Health and Care visa
The worker’s contractual salary is £25,000/annum. The worker borrowed £304 from the employer, the application fee for a 3 year visa, and agreed to pay this back in monthly deductions to salary over the course of 1 year. Now, the relevant salary for the Certificate of Sponsorship would be £24,696,. Even thought this borrowing might seem minor, here it does take the worker under the £25,000 minimum, and it means that they are not eligible for sponsorship at this salary.”

Recruitment of existing care workers

There is now a new requirement in SW6.1C of the Immigration Rules, Appendix Skilled Worker, to first recruit from the ‘pool’ of skilled workers already in the UK, and to provide evidence of having done so. In practice, it operates in a similar way to the previous ‘resident labour market test’, except focusing on migrant workers already in the UK, rather than British workers.

The Home Office states in its explanatory notes:

It has become clear that there are a number of care workers who have been displaced as a result of non-compliant sponsors losing their licence and these changes are aimed at helping those already in the UK who have been affected back into work within the care sector before new international workers are recruited.

When recruiting for a care worker or senior care worker job, the potential sponsor must try to recruit from skilled workers who were previously sponsored in care worker roles, but who have now lost their sponsorship, or have been otherwise identified as a person requiring assistance to obtain sponsorship. They now need to contact their regional partnership to check whether any suitable skilled workers are available, prior to recruiting from overseas. If no suitable workers are available, they need a letter from the partnership confirming the same.

The list of regional partnerships is available here under ‘How to access support’.

Next steps

We are well placed to advise sponsors who are unsure how to meet their obligations under the new rules. Please contact Rachel Harvey, Legal Director, or Alice Balgarnie, Chartered Legal Executive, and we would be happy to assist.