The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has used its 2025 Annual Report—laid before Parliament on 17 December 2025—to call on ministers to rethink the wage rules that underpin the UK’s flagship Skilled Worker visa.
At present, employers must pay overseas hires the higher of a general £41,700 floor or the 50th-percentile ‘going-rate’ for the occupation. The MAC finds that tying every role to the median salary has produced “perverse outcomes”: junior engineers in the North-East and lab technicians in university towns are now priced out of sponsorship, while higher-paid London roles sail through with ease. The committee argues that the rules no longer meet their stated aims of protecting resident workers from under-cutting and ensuring fiscal benefit to the UK.
Instead, the MAC recommends resetting occupation-specific thresholds to the 25th-percentile of UK earnings—still well above the National Living Wage but far more attainable for growth sectors such as advanced manufacturing, green technology and R-D spin-outs. It also proposes keeping the £41,700 general threshold (rather than increasing it again in April) and scrapping rarely-used routes such as the Scale-up visa unless genuine labour-market demand can be demonstrated.
![Migration Advisory Committee urges overhaul of Skilled Worker salary thresholds]()
For companies juggling these evolving requirements, specialist visa services can simplify the task. VisaHQ’s dedicated UK team helps sponsors and individual applicants collate compliant documentation, calculate salary thresholds and submit Skilled Worker applications in line with the latest Home Office guidance. More information can be found at https://www.visahq.com/united-kingdom/.
For employers, the changes would reopen parts of the talent pipeline that effectively closed when the government tightened the rules earlier this year. Universities say they have been forced to leave research posts unfilled; regional SMEs report similar struggles. Should ministers accept the advice, sponsors could start using the lower 25th-percentile salaries from April 2026, giving HR teams just three months to adjust pay modelling, Certificate of Sponsorship budgets and posted-worker planning.
Politically, the review places the new Home Secretary under pressure to balance the Prime Minister’s pledge to cut net migration with business warnings of skill shortages. Treasury officials will note the MAC’s projection that the recommended model would still deliver the strongest lifetime fiscal contribution of all options considered. Multinationals should watch for a formal Statement of Changes in early 2026 and factor potential savings into workforce cost forecasts.
At present, employers must pay overseas hires the higher of a general £41,700 floor or the 50th-percentile ‘going-rate’ for the occupation. The MAC finds that tying every role to the median salary has produced “perverse outcomes”: junior engineers in the North-East and lab technicians in university towns are now priced out of sponsorship, while higher-paid London roles sail through with ease. The committee argues that the rules no longer meet their stated aims of protecting resident workers from under-cutting and ensuring fiscal benefit to the UK.
Instead, the MAC recommends resetting occupation-specific thresholds to the 25th-percentile of UK earnings—still well above the National Living Wage but far more attainable for growth sectors such as advanced manufacturing, green technology and R-D spin-outs. It also proposes keeping the £41,700 general threshold (rather than increasing it again in April) and scrapping rarely-used routes such as the Scale-up visa unless genuine labour-market demand can be demonstrated.
For companies juggling these evolving requirements, specialist visa services can simplify the task. VisaHQ’s dedicated UK team helps sponsors and individual applicants collate compliant documentation, calculate salary thresholds and submit Skilled Worker applications in line with the latest Home Office guidance. More information can be found at https://www.visahq.com/united-kingdom/.
For employers, the changes would reopen parts of the talent pipeline that effectively closed when the government tightened the rules earlier this year. Universities say they have been forced to leave research posts unfilled; regional SMEs report similar struggles. Should ministers accept the advice, sponsors could start using the lower 25th-percentile salaries from April 2026, giving HR teams just three months to adjust pay modelling, Certificate of Sponsorship budgets and posted-worker planning.
Politically, the review places the new Home Secretary under pressure to balance the Prime Minister’s pledge to cut net migration with business warnings of skill shortages. Treasury officials will note the MAC’s projection that the recommended model would still deliver the strongest lifetime fiscal contribution of all options considered. Multinationals should watch for a formal Statement of Changes in early 2026 and factor potential savings into workforce cost forecasts.
