Major Home Office errors on Skilled Worker rates of pay could result in costly overpayments for employers hiring overseas talent

• The Home Office has admitted that errors were made in the published ‘going rates’ of pay in the Immigration Rules
• Immpact’s investigation has shown 77 errors within 33 job codes – with one requiring a sponsor to pay nearly £20k above the corrected rate
• With the rules not being updated until the ‘Autumn’ employers are being warned not to get caught out

4th September 2024, UK: The Home Office has admitted over the past week that errors have been made with the published ‘going rates’ for skilled workers in the Immigration Rules, which could result in costly overpayments for employers hiring overseas talent. An investigation by immigration recruitment platform Immpact has found 77 errors within 33 job codes in the Immigration Rules published in April 2024 – with one error requiring a sponsor to pay nearly £20k above the corrected rate.

Immpact is warning employers that with the Immigration Rules not being updated until the ‘Autumn’, there is a very high chance that the wrong salary rate will be used by employing organisations or business immigration teams unless they’re fully forewarned.

The errors also raise the potential for employees with similar roles to be paid significantly different salaries based on incorrect Home Office data, or a loss of talent who may be turned away because the wrong salary rate, dictated by the Immigration Rules, was deemed too high. The job codes affected range from Senior Officers - fire, ambulance and prisons, Probation Officers and Roofers to Scientists and Youth Workers.

Immigration expert Jonathan Beech, Founder and Managing Director of Immpact, comments: “If the April 2024 Skilled Worker rule changes weren’t complicated enough, the Home Office has now admitted errors made with the published ‘going rates’ shown in the Immigration Rules. Our investigation has found these errors could prove extremely costly for businesses and have other serious consequences, especially with one error we found requiring a sponsor to pay nearly £20k above the corrected rate if an employer is unaware.

“Calculating the correct range of pay for Skilled Workers can be difficult. For those not paid at the minimum level or higher, the result can be an application for refusal which in turn leads to a loss of Home Office fees that can run into thousands.

“While for in-country applications, a refusal will lead to the loss of a Certificate of Sponsorship. This could mean that the employer must issue another one should they want to make a subsequent application with the correct information, which can only happen if the employer has an existing allocation of Certificates. If they need to request an extra allocation from UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI), the wait time can run into months - by which time the employee’s visa could have expired, or they may have sought alternative employment.

“The challenge for employers and lawyers is that the Skilled Worker earnings data is built into ten key UKVI rule and guidance documents that need to be reviewed to assess the ‘going rate’ alone.” The Home Office has confirmed that guidance published in July 2024, where salaries have been updated, should take precedence over those shown in the rules, last updated in June.

The Home Office has confirmed to each sponsor’s Sponsor Management System:

“The Immigration Rules changes in April 2024 contained a number of errors where the going rates stated for occupation codes were too high. Guidance on GOV.UK has been updated with the correct, lower rates and the Immigration Rules will be corrected in the autumn. In advance of the Rules change, sponsors may refer to the going rates in the GOV.UK guidance when issuing Certificates of Sponsorship, as these are the rates caseworkers will assess applications against.”

Adds Jonathan Beech of Immpact: “We want to forewarn all employers employing overseas talent to help fulfil skills shortages not to get caught as these errors are still not widely known.

“The good news is we’d already found this issue as our immigration platform tools can be updated in real-time and we’ve identified the pain points for Skilled Worker eligibility and the correct key skill and salary requirements can be assessed here in a few minutes.”  For further information visit www.immpact.ai.

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Editors notes

About Immpact

Immpact’s vision is to connect global talent and business to fuel world prosperity. It aims to achieve this by harnessing the power of technology to streamline the immigration processes, helping businesses to save time, cost and increase productivity. It’s also committed to reducing exploitation in the marketplace by enabling talent to connect directly to regulated legal professionals and employers who can recruit overseas talent.

The platform development has been led by Co-Founder and COO, Paul Greenwood, who has a strong track record in international business leadership and headed up the development of many successful digital innovation projects for consumers and businesses.

www.immpact.ai