Pay changes for sponsored care workers

There has been a lot of commentary on the pay changes announced in the Home Office’s most recent Statement of Changes. Most of this commentary suggests that care providers would need to pay their sponsored care workers at least the minimum salary requirements every month. This would mean paying 1/12th of the required annual salary every month.

As a reminder, minimum salary requirements are currently £25,000 and £12.82 an hour for care workers and senior care workers. Please note that these rates apply to sponsored care workers under a Certificate of Sponsorship (“CoS”) assigned on or after 9 April 2025. Those sponsored under a CoS assigned before that date are subject to the lower National Minimum Wage rates.

A requirement to pay at least 1/12th of the required annual salary every month would have huge repercussions in the care sector, where many care workers are paid an hourly rate and wages are based on the hours that are worked each month. Whilst care providers must ensure that minimum salary requirements are met annually, there is currently flexibility to vary working hours and pay each week, as long as enough hours are worked over a 17-week reference period to meet the minimum pay requirements.

Whilst the wording of the Statement of Changes does provide for equal monthly wage payment as set out above, the position is more complicated. The wording itself is confusing, and it’s not clear how the Home Office intends to apply it.

The Home Office appears to provide the following options for employers:

1. Pay in every pay period meets the minimum pay requirements for every hour worked in that pay period (as set out above).
2. Where the care worker is paid monthly (or less frequently), wages paid over a 3-month period must be at least ¼ of the annual required salary i.e. ¼ of £25k.
3. Where the care worker is paid weekly (or the pay period is otherwise less than monthly), wages paid over any 12-week period must be at least 12/52 of the annual required salary.

In addition, where the care worker will not work the same hours each week and this results in uneven pay, there is a new requirement to confirm to the Home Office that the working pattern and wages over any 17-week reference period will be at least 17/52 of the annual required salary.

Whilst the actual options set out by the Home Office are poorly worded and confusing, one point that is clear is that the Home Office is going to require more transparency around pay arrangements.

The Home Office has said that these changes will help support worker welfare as it will flag underpayments sooner, and enable quicker compliance action to be taken against employers.

As the Home Office’s announcement is not clear, we anticipate it will need to release further information. Look out for new guidance or announcements by the Home Office on this. You should also ensure that you’re signed up to our mailing list so we can update you when we receive this clarification.

In the meantime, the changes show that the Home Office is going to require more transparency around pay arrangements going forwards. As a starting point, we would suggest:

• reviewing your employment contracts to ensure that the wording around how pay is calculated, pay periods and any other payments such as overtime pay is clearly set out, and
• adding a sponsor note to any new CoS to clearly set out the pay arrangements including any variation in hours, particularly if the sponsored employee’s salary is below the required level for the relevant payroll period, but it will be adjusted within the specified timeframes.

Whilst the Home Office has said that these new requirements will only apply to CoS assigned on or after 8 April 2026, you may want to consider whether to make these pay reports for all sponsored workers.