UK skilled worker salary thresholds and going rates 2026

A Skilled Worker salary must clear two figures at once: a general hourly floor and the going rate for the occupation code. Under Appendix Skilled Occupations the Home Office sets that floor at GBP 17.13 an hour where Table 1 applies and GBP 12.82 where Table 2 applies, and the higher of floor and going rate governs.

Two tables, two sets of rates

Appendix Skilled Occupations carries the going rates and splits them across two tables. Table 1 uses median rates from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, and applies to most Skilled Worker applications. Table 2 uses the 25th percentile of the same survey and applies to the narrower groups the Immigration Rules direct there, including certain health and education occupations and roles on the shortage arrangements.

Each table has its own general floor. Table 1 requires GBP 17.13 an hour or the going rate for the occupation, whichever is higher. Table 2 requires GBP 12.82 an hour or the going rate, again whichever is higher. Both tests are applied to the same offer, so a salary that satisfies the hourly floor but falls under the occupation going rate fails, and the reverse fails too.

Rates are set per Standard Occupational Classification code, not per job title. Chief executives and senior officials, SOC 1111, carry a going rate of GBP 88,100 in Table 1 and GBP 60,000 in Table 2, and the same spread runs through the tables. The code assigned on the Certificate of Sponsorship is therefore the single most consequential entry in the application.

The discount options, and where they stop

Appendix Skilled Worker sets out salary options lettered A to J. Options A to E are read against Table 1 and options F to J against Table 2. Within each set the rules allow the going rate to be met at 100, 90, 80 or 70 percent of the published figure, depending on which tradeable characteristic the applicant relies on, such as a relevant PhD, a new entrant status, or a listed shortage arrangement. The general hourly floor is not discounted by any of these options.

The limit that catches sponsors late is settlement. Appendix Skilled Occupations states that settlement applications may use only the full going rate column. The 70, 80 and 90 percent columns do not apply at that stage. A worker sponsored for five years at a discounted rate must therefore be paid at or above the full going rate for the code when the indefinite leave to remain application is made, and the going rate will by then have been uprated. Employers who set the initial salary at 70 percent without a pay progression plan meet a step change in payroll at the five year mark, or lose the worker.

What the sponsor has to do before the application

The salary test is applied to what the Certificate of Sponsorship says. Under Appendix Skilled Worker the employer must hold a valid sponsor licence, assign a Certificate of Sponsorship to the named worker, and state on it the SOC occupation code, the gross annual salary, the hours and the job description. The worker then applies against that certificate. Nothing said in the offer letter and nothing agreed verbally cures an error on the certificate, and a wrong SOC code is corrected by assigning a new one rather than by explanation.

Two arithmetic points decide most borderline cases. The hourly floor is computed on hours actually worked, and the Home Office disregards hours above 48 a week when converting an annual salary into an hourly figure, so a high annual salary spread over very long hours does not lift the hourly rate as far as an employer expects. Second, only guaranteed basic gross pay counts. Allowances, bonuses, overtime, shift premia and the value of accommodation are excluded from both the floor and the going rate test.

Sponsors should also confirm the rate against the current version of the appendix rather than against a cached table. The going rates are revised when the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings is updated, and a certificate assigned on the previous year's figure is assessed on the figure in force on the date of application. The licence itself, its fees and the skills charge are covered in what a UK sponsor licence costs an employer, and the checks that follow the hire in right to work checks and the civil penalty.

For an employer comparing corridors, the United Kingdom now prices skilled migration mainly through salary rather than through process, and the going rate for the code is the number that decides whether a role is sponsorable at all. Establish the SOC code and read its two rates before the vacancy is advertised, not after a candidate has accepted. Where the same role is being weighed against a European route, the permit timeline comparison by country sets the schedules side by side, and the employer view of both is on the Werklist employers page.