Skilled Worker Salary Threshold Rise Now in Force
What employers and overseas hires need to know about the new £42,800 baseline.
The long-trailed increase in the Skilled Worker general salary threshold took effect on 15 April 2026, with the baseline rising from £38,700 to £42,800 per annum for all new 'new entrant' Certificates of Sponsorship and entry clearance applications submitted after that date.
The so-called 'going rate' premium for individual occupation codes has also been recalibrated, with SOC 2139 (programmers and software development professionals), SOC 3565 (care workers and home carers) and SOC 3416 (senior care workers) seeing particularly steep rises of between 12 and 18 per cent compared with the previous band.
Crucially, existing in-country workers who are applying to extend their leave or switch into the Skilled Worker route from within the UK have some protection under transitional rules, provided the application is submitted before 15 October 2026. After that date, the full new thresholds will apply to everyone regardless of when their original employment began.
Immigration lawyers have reported a surge in last-minute applications from employers who held off issuing CoSs in the hope of an eleventh-hour U-turn that never materialised, leading to some temporary backlogs at UKVI's premium service centres.
If your organisation is struggling to recruit or retain staff under the new regime, you may wish to explore whether any of the occupation-specific or shortage-based exceptions apply, or to consider alternative routes such as the Global Business Mobility scheme or Scale-up visa for eligible businesses.
