Skilled Worker Sponsorship After July 2025: What the £41,700 Threshold and the New Degree-Level Rule Mean for Your Hiring

The headline changes

What the jargon means for your roles

A quick translation of the jargon: RQF is the Regulated Qualifications Framework, the system that ranks how skilled a job is. Level 3 is roughly A-level standard; Level 6 is bachelor’s-degree standard. Raising the bar to Level 6 means many supervisory, technical and administrative roles that qualified in 2024 no longer do for new hires, unless the occupation is on the Immigration Salary List or the Temporary Shortage List, or the worker is covered by the transitional rules below. Note that a worker does not need a degree: it is the job that has to be at degree level.

Who it affects, and who it doesn’t

New hires. For a Certificate of Sponsorship assigned on or after 22 July 2025, the job must normally be in Tables 1, 2 or 3 of Appendix Skilled Occupations, which are the degree-level (RQF 6) occupation codes. A job below that level can only be sponsored if its occupation is on the Immigration Salary List or the Temporary Shortage List. Both are short-lived: a Temporary Shortage List job needs a certificate issued before 31 December 2026, and Immigration Salary List entries are removed for certificates issued from that date (care roles have a later date). Workers sponsored in these below-degree roles generally cannot bring a partner or children.

Workers you already sponsor. Someone granted Skilled Worker permission under the rules in place before 22 July 2025, who has kept continuous Skilled Worker permission, can still be sponsored in RQF 3–5 occupation codes. That covers extensions and moving to a new employer, and they keep the right to bring dependants. Workers first sponsored under the rules before 4 April 2024, with continuous permission since, also keep a lower salary floor of £31,300 and lower going rates, for applications made before 4 April 2030. Check which group each existing worker is in before you renew or change their role. A break in permission can lose the protection.

Care providers. Since 22 July 2025, care workers and senior care workers (codes 6135 and 6136) cannot be recruited from overseas. They can only be sponsored from inside the UK: either they are already sponsored in those roles, or they have been working legally for you for at least 3 months and apply before 22 July 2028.

The going rate trap

The £41,700 figure is a floor, not the answer. The salary must meet both £41,700 and the going rate for the job’s occupation code. For many professional roles the going rate is the higher figure, so that is what you must pay.

Three details catch employers out:

What to do before your next hire

1. Find the right occupation code from the duties. Start with what the person will actually do, then find the code. Never start from the salary you hoped to pay.
2. Check the code’s table. Tables 1 to 3 (degree level) are open to new hires. Anything else needs the Immigration Salary List or Temporary Shortage List, and a certificate issued before 31 December 2026.
3. Price the higher of £41,700 and the going rate, using guaranteed basic pay for up to 48 hours a week. Then check whether a lower option, such as new entrant, honestly applies, and for how long.
4. Budget the employer’s own costs. The Certificate of Sponsorship fee (£525) and the Immigration Skills Charge (£1,320 for the first 12 months for a medium or large sponsor, £480 for a small one) are yours to pay. Recovering them from the worker will normally cost you the licence. Our guide to the true cost of sponsoring a worker sets out the full stack.
5. Check the transitional status of everyone you already sponsor before any renewal, promotion or change of role.
6. Keep the certificate, the payroll and the real job in line, and report changes on time. That is exactly what a Home Office compliance visit tests.

Check the figures before you rely on them

Important: Salary thresholds and going rates are reviewed regularly and vary by occupation code. The figures above reflect the position from 22 July 2025. Always check the current Immigration Rules (Appendix Skilled Worker) and the relevant occupation’s going rate before relying on a number for a live application.