Sponsored care worker salary requirements: why the annual salary isn't the whole pay check

Most care providers meet the sponsored care worker salary requirements on paper. The Certificate of Sponsorship says £25,000 or more, the contract matches, and the box feels ticked.

Since 8 April 2026, that figure is only the first of several checks. The current Sponsor a Skilled Worker guidance sets out how the Home Office tests pay once a worker is in post. It looks at each pay period, at every hour worked in it, and at rolling three-month or 12-week totals.

For a provider running variable rotas across more than one site, that changes what a routine pay run has to cover. The two shortfalls described below can happen to a provider whose CoS figures are entirely correct.

This guide is for registered managers, HR leads and finance teams at sponsoring care providers. It is written from the published guidance and is not legal or immigration advice.

The two minimums for sponsored care workers

Care workers and senior care workers (occupation codes 6135 and 6136) have two salary floors, and both apply at once:

• On the Health and Care visa: at least £25,000 a year and at least £12.82 for each hour worked (SK4.38).

• On a standard Skilled Worker visa, for a worker not eligible for Health and Care: at least £33,400 a year and at least £17.13 for each hour worked (SK4.39).

The two Health and Care figures fit together neatly. £25,000 over a 37.5-hour week works out at £12.82 an hour, so a worker contracted at exactly the annual minimum for a standard week has no headroom at all on the hourly rate.

Both minimums also apply to part-time workers. They are assessed on actual gross earnings, not scaled up to a full-time equivalent (SK7.11), so a part-time role needs enough hours at a high enough rate to reach £25,000.

Care England reported in April that the Department of Health and Social Care had confirmed these thresholds stay the same for 2026/27 (Care England briefing). The numbers have not moved. What has moved is how closely they are checked.

The salary rules also sit on top of the National Minimum Wage and the Working Time Regulations, which every sponsored role must comply with (SK3.11). Meeting the sponsorship floor does not replace either. You can run a quick comparison with our Skilled Worker salary threshold checker.

How the Home Office checks pay since April 2026

Version 04/26 of the guidance, valid from 8 April 2026, added a subsection on how salary compliance is assessed (SK7.19 to SK7.25). The Home Office says it will check regularly, through compliance visits, HMRC data, or both, that you pay at least what you stated on the CoS (SK5.5, SK7.19).

Every sponsored care worker has to pass the per-hour test, plus one rolling-period test that depends on how they are paid:

• Every pay period, for every sponsored worker: pay in the period must cover every hour worked in it at the going rate (SK7.21).

• Paid monthly or less often: pay over any three months must be at least a quarter of the required annual salary, which is £6,250 on a £25,000 salary (SK7.22).

• Paid more often than monthly: pay over any 12 weeks must be at least 12/52 of the required annual salary, which is £5,769.23 (SK7.23).

• On an irregular working pattern confirmed on the CoS: pay over any 17 weeks must be at least 17/52 of the required annual salary, which is £8,173.08 (SK7.24).

Two details in the same section are easy to miss. Pay should arrive at least monthly unless the contract says otherwise (SK7.20). And if a worker's regular hours vary week to week, you are expected to confirm that working pattern when you assign the CoS, or later through a change of circumstances notification (SK7.24).

The stakes are written plainly elsewhere in the guidance. If the Home Office finds you paying less than you said you would, outside what the rules allow, it can take action that includes revoking the licence (SK5.4, SK8.8).

Where variable care rotas cause problems

A care worker on a fixed contract working the same hours every week will pass these tests without anyone thinking about it. Care rotas rarely look like that, and the gaps tend to open in three places.

Salaried staff who pick up extra shifts

A worker on a fixed £25,000 salary is paid £2,083.33 a month. A 37.5-hour week averages out at 162.5 hours a month, and at that level the hourly rate sits right on £12.82. Every hour worked above 162.5 in a month, without extra pay, pulls the effective rate below the floor for that pay period.

Short-staffed months are exactly when this happens. Cover gets arranged on the floor, and payroll runs the usual monthly figure.

Hourly staff in a quiet quarter

The opposite problem hits workers paid by the hour. Each hour can be paid at £12.82 or more and the per-hour test is met. But if hours drop for a few months, perhaps after a package of care ends, the rolling three-month total can fall below £6,250.

Hours recorded somewhere payroll never looks

Multi-site providers often hold rotas in a scheduling tool, timesheets in another system and pay in a third. If payroll works from contracted hours, extra shifts at a second site may never reach the person checking sponsored pay. Keeping a single record of each person is the core idea behind sponsored worker management software.

One more point on overtime. When the guidance calculates salary, it counts guaranteed basic gross pay and leaves out overtime pay, shift allowances and bonuses (SK7.2). It is safest not to rely on a premium for extra shifts to carry anyone over the floor.

In most of these cases nobody sets out to underpay. The pay and the hours are simply never put side by side.

Two worked examples

Both workers below are hypothetical, and both have a CoS showing a salary of £25,000. Each one fails a different test.

Worker A: fixed salary, busy month

Worker A is paid £25,000 a year, monthly. In a short-staffed month they work 170 hours and receive the usual £2,083.33.

The per-pay-period test needs 170 × £12.82, which is £2,179.40 for that month (SK7.21). Worker A is £96.07 short, at an effective rate of £12.25 an hour.

Worker B: hourly pay, quiet quarter

Worker B is paid £12.82 an hour, monthly. For three months running they work 140 hours a month, 420 hours in total, and receive £5,384.40.

Every hour is paid at the floor, so the per-hour test is met. The rolling test needs at least £6,250 over any three months (SK7.22), so Worker B is £865.60 short.

What the examples show

Worker A's annual figure is fine, and so is Worker B's hourly rate. Each still falls short on the test that looks at their actual hours. Neither shortfall would show up on the CoS, in the contract or in a standard monthly payroll report.

The fix differs too. Worker A needs the extra hours paid. Worker B's position depends on why hours fell and on the full sponsorship picture, which is the kind of question to take to an immigration adviser before the next quarter closes.

A pay-period check care providers can run

The check itself is simple arithmetic. The hard part is doing it every pay period, for every sponsored worker, with hours from the right source.

1. Keep one list of sponsored care workers showing the CoS salary, pay frequency, whether an irregular working pattern was confirmed, and which rolling test applies to them.

2. Each pay period, take hours worked from rotas or timesheets across every site. Contracted hours are not enough.

3. Divide basic gross pay for the period by hours worked. Flag anyone under £12.82.

4. Add the period to each worker's rolling total and compare it with the three-month, 12-week or 17-week minimum.

5. Look hardest at periods with extra shifts, moves between sites, sickness cover or a care package ending.

6. Fix shortfalls before the period closes where you can, and note what you did.

7. File the working next to the payslip, so you can show the check at a compliance visit.

If you reduce a sponsored worker's salary for a permitted reason, the guidance expects you to report it through the SMS within 10 working days (SK8.5). A UKVI reporting deadline tracker helps make sure that window is not missed.

Keeping sponsored care worker pay compliant

A spreadsheet copes with this for a handful of workers. Past that, especially across several sites, the check tends to slip in exactly the busy months when it matters most.

Dedicated salary compliance software is designed to bring pay and hours together each period, so shortfalls surface before they become a licence risk. Whatever method you use, the principle is the same: test actual pay against actual hours, every pay period, for every sponsored worker.

This guide reflects the Sponsor a Skilled Worker guidance as published. If you suspect a shortfall or are unsure how a rule applies to a particular worker, take advice from a qualified immigration adviser.