Employment experts advise employers to double-check data and avoid being 'found out' after pay for certain positions were disclosed inaccurately.The Home Office has conceded to a number of inaccuracies in the published 'going rates' for skilled workers under the Immigration Rules, which experts believe might result in huge overpayments to firms recruiting overseas talent. The Home Office issued a notice to all sponsors via the sponsorship management system, indicating that the regulation amendments, which took effect in April 2024, had a number of inaccuracies in which the going rates of pay for some occupation codes were excessively high. It said, "Guidance on gov.uk has been amended with the right, lower rates, and the Immigration Rules will be changed in the autumn.

Senior officers (fire, ambulance and prison), probation officers, roofers, scientists and youth workers were among the job categories affected.

A Home Office spokesperson told People Management: “We were made aware of errors in guidance for sponsors in the Immigration Rules on gov.uk relating to skilled worker rates of pay. This has now been resolved and all sponsors have been notified. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

However, in addition to the errors, an investigation by immigration recruiting platform Immpact discovered that the Immigration Rules issued in April 2024 contained 77 flaws within 33 job classifications, one of which required a sponsor to pay nearly £20,000 more than the rectified amount.

Immpact has now advised companies that because the Immigration Rules will not be updated until the autumn, there was a "substantial risk" that hiring organisations or business immigration teams may utilise the erroneous salary rate.

The company also said the errors could result in employees with similar roles being paid significantly different salaries, and some businesses may even experience a loss of talent having turned away applicants because the salary rate, determined by the rules, was deemed too high.

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Home Office skilled worker rate errors could mean employers overpay for talent from abroad, experts warn

Employment lawyers urge businesses to carefully check figures and avoid getting ‘caught out’ after salaries for some roles were published incorrectly

by Mahalia Mayne 9 September 2024

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The Home Office has admitted a number of errors in the published ‘going rates’ for skilled workers under the Immigration Rules, which experts say could result in significant overpayments for firms recruiting overseas talent. 

The Home Office published a notice to all sponsors on the sponsorship management system stating that the rule changes, which came into force in April 2024, contained a number of errors where the going rates of pay for some occupation codes were too high. 

It added: “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.” 

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Senior officers (fire, ambulance and prison), probation officers, roofers, scientists and youth workers were among the job categories affected.

A Home Office spokesperson told People Management: “We were made aware of errors in guidance for sponsors in the Immigration Rules on gov.uk relating to skilled worker rates of pay. This has now been resolved and all sponsors have been notified. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

However, in addition to the errors, an investigation by immigration recruiting platform Immpact discovered that the Immigration Rules issued in April 2024 contained 77 flaws within 33 job classifications, one of which required a sponsor to pay nearly £20,000 more than the rectified amount.

Immpact has now advised companies that because the Immigration Rules will not be updated until the autumn, there was a "substantial risk" that hiring organisations or business immigration teams may utilise the erroneous salary rate.

The company also said the errors could result in employees with similar roles being paid significantly different salaries, and some businesses may even experience a loss of talent having turned away applicants because the salary rate, determined by the rules, was deemed too high.

In April, the Conservative government significantly raised the salary threshold for skilled migrants coming to work in the UK from £26,200 to £38,700 in a bid to reduce net migration to the UK.

As part of the skilled worker visa application process, the rules that came into force in April stated sponsors must assign each role to the appropriate code using the standard occupational classification system, with each occupation establishing a pay threshold known as the ‘going rate’. 

The minimal ‘going rate’ for an employee's function climbed from the 25th percentile to the 50th percentile (the median income for a UK worker).

Jonathan Beech, immigration expert and founder and managing director of Immpact, said calculating the correct rate of pay could be difficult, and went on to explain that businesses applying to sponsor a skilled worker from overseas, who was not paid at the minimum level or higher, could end up with an application for refusal, which in turn leads to a loss of Home Office fees that could be up to thousands of pounds.

He continued: “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.” 

Beech said the Home Office errors were still not widely known, and that Immpact wanted to “forewarn employers” so they did not get caught short.

Chetal Patel, head of immigration at Bates Wells, said it was critical to recognise that these discrepancies related to certain occupation codes for skilled workers only. 

“There’s a concern that these errors are still not widely known by employers. The Home Office has issued a notice on the Sponsor Management System (SMS) boards for all sponsors and this acts as a reminder that sponsors need to regularly check the SMS board for up-to-date messages from the Home Office. We recommend to our clients that as part of the monthly authorising officer, the SMS board is also checked,” Patel said. 

But she also warned that going rate errors could be “extremely costly for businesses”, especially where the error had resulted in overpayments. In order to resolve this, she said, businesses should seek immigration and employment advice to determine what steps, if any, may be taken.