The April 2026 salary rules: SW 14.3B and the per-pay-period trap

Until this spring, Skilled Worker salary compliance was mostly an annual-number exercise: agree a salary at or above the threshold and the going rate, put it on the CoS, done. Since 8 April 2026, that is no longer the test — and sponsors whose payroll hasn't caught up are drifting into breach without anyone cutting anyone's pay.

What SW 14.3B actually says

Paragraph SW 14.3B of Appendix Skilled Worker requires that the salary paid in each pay period equals or exceeds the going rate for every hour worked in that pay period [^1]. Compliance moved from the contract to the payslip. Three consequences:

1. Averaging is dead. A worker paid an annually compliant salary who works heavy hours in a busy month can fall below the required hourly rate for that month — and that single pay period is a breach, whatever the annual total says.
2. Hours records are now salary-compliance records. You cannot demonstrate per-hour compliance without knowing the hours; timesheets have quietly become Appendix D-adjacent evidence.
3. Unpaid overtime is a compliance event. Every extra unpaid hour lowers the effective hourly rate the rule tests.

The numbers that frame every case

• General threshold: £41,700 per year — or the occupation's going rate, whichever is higher [^2].
• Lower threshold: £33,400 for those qualifying for a reduction (new entrants, Immigration Salary List roles) [^2].
• Hourly floors: the standard going-rate floor is £17.13/hour; occupations assessed under the second going-rates table carry a £12.82/hour floor, and ISL and transitional care roles have a £25,000 absolute annual floor [^1] [^2].
• Going rates themselves were last revised on 1 July 2026 — a threshold you cleared in March is not automatically a threshold you clear today [^3].

Who is most exposed

Sponsors of workers within a few thousand pounds of their going rate; sectors with variable hours (hospitality, logistics, care transitional cases); and any employer whose HR and payroll systems don't talk to each other — because the person who approves overtime is never the person watching the sponsorship maths.

What a compliant process looks like now

Monthly, not annually: after each payroll run, check each sponsored worker's pay against hours for the period; investigate any month where the effective hourly rate approaches the floor; and treat any salary reduction, allowance restructure or hours change as a reportable-event question, not just a payroll edit. This is exactly the kind of repetitive, dated, evidenced check software should carry — SponsorFort tracks each worker's salary position against the current thresholds and flags drift before it becomes a finding.

[^1]: Immigration Rules, Appendix Skilled Worker, paragraph SW 14.3B (in force 8 April 2026) — gov.uk.

[^2]: Skilled Worker visa: when you can be paid less — gov.uk; Immigration Rules Appendix Skilled Occupations (going rates tables and floors).

[^3]: Immigration Rules Appendix Skilled Occupations — updated 1 July 2026; practitioner analysis: DavidsonMorris, "Skilled Worker going rates" (2026).

This is guidance based on published Home Office material, not legal advice. Salary compliance depends on your specific occupation code, tables and transitional rules — for advice on your situation, consult a solicitor or an adviser regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority.