The UK Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has published a 30-page technical note explaining – for the first time in detail – how it believes both the general and occupation-specific salary thresholds under the Skilled Worker route should be calculated. Although the document, dated 19 May and released to practitioners on 25 May, does not itself change the Immigration Rules, it provides a blueprint that the Home Office is widely expected to follow when it next revises salary levels later this year. Under the MAC’s proposed methodology the general threshold would be anchored to the 25th-percentile earnings of RQF-level-6+ roles in the latest Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings dataset.
![MAC technical note signals £44k baseline for future UK Skilled Worker salaries]()
For organisations that need practical assistance navigating these upcoming changes, VisaHQ can provide end-to-end support with UK Skilled Worker visa applications. Their platform (https://www.visahq.com/united-kingdom/) offers document checks, application tracking and expert guidance, helping sponsors stay compliant with evolving salary thresholds while reducing administrative burden.
Using 2025 earnings data, the committee estimates the headline figure would rise from the current £41,700 to “around £44,000”. Employers would still have to meet the higher of the general threshold or the ‘going-rate’ for the relevant SOC code, but the note sets out two new formulas (“Method A” and “Method B”) for deriving reliable ‘going-rate’ figures where published percentile data is missing or statistically unreliable. For multinationals managing assignment budgets, the document is a red flag. Internal cost projections that assumed only inflation-level adjustments now risk being off by several thousand pounds per assignee from April 2027. Sectors that rely heavily on young talent or shortage-occupation discounts will take particular notice because the MAC is explicit that any discounts should be expressed as a percentage of the new, higher baseline – not as frozen cash figures. Payroll teams will need to confirm soon whether shadow or host contracts issued after the next Statement of Changes will still clear the higher bar. HR and Global Mobility managers are also warned about timing. The note recommends that new thresholds be updated each spring once fresh ASHE data is released. That implies an annual step-change cycle, replacing the more ad-hoc increases seen in recent years. Sponsors who expect to assign Certificates of Sponsorship for start dates in mid-2027 may therefore wish to accelerate role approval to lock in current salary rules. Practically, the MAC advice adds weight to calls for integrated reward-immigration workflows. Employers should ensure that SOC code mapping sits alongside reward banding so that any uplift required by the immigration rules is triggered automatically when pay bands are reviewed. Failure to do so risks under-payment breaches, licence downgrades and curtailment notices for sponsored staff.
For organisations that need practical assistance navigating these upcoming changes, VisaHQ can provide end-to-end support with UK Skilled Worker visa applications. Their platform (https://www.visahq.com/united-kingdom/) offers document checks, application tracking and expert guidance, helping sponsors stay compliant with evolving salary thresholds while reducing administrative burden.
Using 2025 earnings data, the committee estimates the headline figure would rise from the current £41,700 to “around £44,000”. Employers would still have to meet the higher of the general threshold or the ‘going-rate’ for the relevant SOC code, but the note sets out two new formulas (“Method A” and “Method B”) for deriving reliable ‘going-rate’ figures where published percentile data is missing or statistically unreliable. For multinationals managing assignment budgets, the document is a red flag. Internal cost projections that assumed only inflation-level adjustments now risk being off by several thousand pounds per assignee from April 2027. Sectors that rely heavily on young talent or shortage-occupation discounts will take particular notice because the MAC is explicit that any discounts should be expressed as a percentage of the new, higher baseline – not as frozen cash figures. Payroll teams will need to confirm soon whether shadow or host contracts issued after the next Statement of Changes will still clear the higher bar. HR and Global Mobility managers are also warned about timing. The note recommends that new thresholds be updated each spring once fresh ASHE data is released. That implies an annual step-change cycle, replacing the more ad-hoc increases seen in recent years. Sponsors who expect to assign Certificates of Sponsorship for start dates in mid-2027 may therefore wish to accelerate role approval to lock in current salary rules. Practically, the MAC advice adds weight to calls for integrated reward-immigration workflows. Employers should ensure that SOC code mapping sits alongside reward banding so that any uplift required by the immigration rules is triggered automatically when pay bands are reviewed. Failure to do so risks under-payment breaches, licence downgrades and curtailment notices for sponsored staff.
