Tool guides · Published 2026-08-08 · Updated 2026-08-08 · 11 min read

Salary Tools vs Skilled Worker Floors: What They Miss

Quick answer

A market salary tool tells you what similar roles typically pay. The Skilled Worker rules ask something different: does this specific job clear both the general salary threshold and the published going rate for its occupation code, whichever is higher? Since the going rates are published on a 37.5-hour week and pro-rated for other hours, and since several defined groups qualify for 70%, 80% or 90% of the going rate against lower floors, a generic salary tool cannot answer the question it appears to answer. The published figures are free to check yourself, and doing it by hand takes about three minutes.

Key takeaways

• Market pay data and the visa salary rules are answers to different questions.
• The test is two-part: the general threshold and the going rate, whichever is

higher.

• The standard threshold is £41,700 a year, with lower floors from £33,400 for

defined groups. Verified against GOV.UK on 6 August 2026.

• Going rates assume a 37.5-hour week and are pro-rated for other hours. This is

where most manual calculations go wrong.

• Only guaranteed pay is relevant. Bonuses and equity do not lift a base

salary into range.

• The occupation code follows the job's duties, not its title, and the code

drives the going rate.

• A sponsor licence is permission to sponsor, not a promise to sponsor any role

or any person, and no salary check changes that.

Disclosure

This site is published by the team behind a UK sponsor-search tool, which is a browser extension. We therefore have a commercial interest in the job-search tools category discussed here. Nothing on this page is a recommendation to buy anything, and every figure below comes from GOV.UK and can be checked without any product at all.

Two different questions

A candidate looking at a £44,000 advert usually wants to know two things at once, and reaches for one tool to answer both.

The second question has a definitive published answer. The first does not, and never will, because market pay is an estimate by construction.

Confusing them produces two errors in opposite directions. A candidate rejects a role because a market tool says it is "below average", when it comfortably meets the rules. Or a candidate assumes a role qualifies because it looks generous against market data, when the going rate for its occupation code is higher.

The two-part test, stated properly

Part one: the general threshold

The standard Skilled Worker salary threshold is £41,700 a year, or the going rate for the occupation, whichever is higher Source: GOV.UK — Skilled Worker visa: your job.

Part two: the going rate

Each eligible occupation code has a published going rate. The rates are set out in the GOV.UK going rates table, which is stated on a 37.5-hour week and pro-rated for other working hours Source: GOV.UK — Skilled Worker visa: going rates for eligible occupation codes. That page was last updated on 22 July 2025.

The lower floors

Several defined groups have a lower general floor of £33,400, and take a reduced percentage of the going rate Source: GOV.UK — Skilled Worker visa: when you can be paid less:

There is also a specific figure for prison officers of £31,300, with a certificate of sponsorship required by 31 December 2026 to switch and 31 December 2027 to extend.

All figures verified against GOV.UK on 6 August 2026.

Why generic salary tools get this wrong

They do not know the occupation code

The going rate attaches to a code, and the code follows the duties the job actually involves. A market tool matches on job title text. "Solutions Architect" is a title; it is not an occupation code, and two roles carrying that title can sit in different codes.

They do not pro-rate

This is the error that produces confident wrong answers.

The arithmetic below is worked from the published 37.5-hour basis, not quoted from GOV.UK.

Take a published going rate of £58,700 for an occupation, and a role advertised at 30 hours a week. Pro-rated, the applicable rate for those hours works out at £58,700 × 30 ÷ 37.5 = £46,960. A tool comparing the advert's £48,000 against the headline £58,700 reports a shortfall that does not exist. A tool ignoring hours entirely reports a pass where the general threshold might still bite.

Working hours change the arithmetic in both directions, and almost no market salary tool asks about them.

They mix total compensation with basic pay

Market data often reports total compensation: base plus bonus, sometimes plus equity. The salary tests look at guaranteed pay. An advert quoting "£38,000 plus up to 20% bonus" is a £38,000 advert for these purposes.

They are out of date, silently

The rules moved on 22 July 2025, when the skill threshold rose to RQF level 6 — a change the Home Office described as "a reduction of around 180 eligible occupations" Source: GOV.UK — Explanatory memorandum to HC 997, 1 July 2025. Any tool, article, or calculator that has not been updated since then can be confidently wrong. Check the date on anything you rely on, including this page.

They cannot see whether a discount applies

Whether someone counts as a new entrant, or holds a relevant PhD, is a fact about the applicant and the role together. A salary tool looking at an advert knows neither.

Three published examples

These come from the GOV.UK going rates table, verified against GOV.UK on 6 August 2026, and illustrate how wide the spread is:

Read the first row and the third together. The general threshold of £41,700 is irrelevant for code 1111, because the going rate is far above it. For code 5434 the going rate sits below the general threshold, so the general threshold is what binds — for a candidate without access to a lower floor.

That is the whole reason "whichever is higher" exists, and the reason a single headline number can never answer the question.

Running the check yourself

Three minutes, free, no account:

1. Read the advert's duties and identify the likely occupation code. Ignore

the title.

1. Look up the going rate for that code on the GOV.UK going rates page.
2. Adjust for hours if the role is not 37.5 hours a week: rate × hours ÷

37.5.

1. Take the higher of that figure and the general threshold of £41,700.
2. Apply a lower floor only if one genuinely applies to you — new entrant,

relevant PhD, Immigration Salary List occupation — using the percentages in the table above.

1. Compare against guaranteed pay in the advert, not the package.
2. Write down the date you checked.

If step one is genuinely ambiguous, the honest answer is that the code is ambiguous, and it is the sponsor who assigns it. That ambiguity is information: it tells you to ask about the role's classification rather than to guess.

Three adverts, run through the check

The adverts below are invented; the going rates quoted are the published examples above, verified against GOV.UK on 6 August 2026.

Advert one: electrical engineer, £52,000, full time

The likely code is 2123, with a standard going rate of £58,700. The advert is below the going rate, and the going rate is above the general threshold, so the going rate binds. On the standard route this does not clear. If the candidate qualifies as a new entrant, the applicable figure would be 70% of the going rate against a floor of £33,400 — worked out, 70% of £58,700 is £41,090, so the £33,400 floor is not what binds and the £41,090 figure is. At £52,000 the advert clears that comfortably.

The lesson: the same advert fails or passes depending on a fact about the candidate, which no salary tool reading the advert can know.

Advert two: chef, £34,000, full time

The likely code is 5434, going rate £33,400. The advert clears the going rate. But the general threshold of £41,700 is higher, and the requirement is the higher of the two, so on the standard route this does not clear. Whether a lower floor applies depends on the candidate and on whether the occupation sits on a qualifying list.

The lesson: clearing the going rate is not the same as clearing the requirement.

Advert three: electrical engineer, £48,000, 30 hours a week

Code 2123 again, going rate £58,700, pro-rated for 30 hours: £58,700 × 30 ÷ 37.5 = £46,960. The advert clears that pro-rated going rate, where a tool comparing £48,000 against the headline £58,700 would report a shortfall that is not there.

How the general threshold is treated for part-time hours is a separate question, and it is one to settle on the GOV.UK salary pages rather than by assumption. The lesson stands either way: hours change the arithmetic, and any tool that does not ask about them is answering a different question from the one you asked.

What a salary tool can honestly do

Having said what they cannot do, here is what a well-built tool in this category can:

• Surface the published going rate for a code you have already identified,

faster than opening the table.

• Do the pro-rata arithmetic when you give it the hours.
• Show the general threshold alongside the going rate, so "whichever is

higher" is visible rather than assumed.

• Date-stamp its data against the GOV.UK page it came from.
• Say what it does not know — your discount eligibility, the true occupation

code, the employer's intentions.

A tool that does those five things is useful. A tool that returns a single green tick for an advert is doing something the underlying data does not support.

The four questions to ask of any salary tool

1. What does it do? Does it read the published going rates, or does it

estimate from market data? These are not interchangeable.

1. What does it cost? Including renewal and cancellation.
2. What data does it see? If it is a browser extension, the permissions

screen tells you. Our guide to browser permissions covers how to read it.

1. What are its limits? A tool that will not state them is a tool that has

not thought about them.

Red flags in this category

Where the salary check sits in the wider process

Salary is one of three checks, and it is the one you can settle most quickly:

1. Skill level. Is the occupation eligible at all?
2. Salary. Does the pay clear the applicable floor?
3. Employer. Does the organisation hold a licence for the route?

For the third, the Register of Licensed Sponsors: Workers is the source, listing organisations permitted to sponsor with their town, county, rating and routes Source: GOV.UK — Register of licensed sponsors: workers. Our copy of the file, published as of 5 August 2026, holds 126,248 organisations. Our guide to checking a sponsor licence free covers that step.

Run them in that order and you stop researching employers for roles that could never have worked.

The bottom line

A market salary tool answers "is this good pay?". The Skilled Worker rules ask "does this clear the higher of the general threshold and the published going rate, adjusted for hours, on guaranteed pay?". Only the second question has a published answer, and it is free to check.

Identify the code from the duties, look up the rate, pro-rate for hours, take the higher figure, and note the date. Then check the employer on the official register — and keep in mind that a licence is permission to sponsor, not a promise to sponsor any role or any person.

This page is information, not immigration advice. This site is not affiliated with the Home Office or GOV.UK. Salary rules change; check the GOV.UK pages linked below, and speak to an adviser registered with the Immigration Advice Authority or a regulated solicitor about your own circumstances.

Sources

1. Skilled Worker visa: your job — GOV.UK
2. Skilled Worker visa: when you can be paid less — GOV.UK
3. Skilled Worker visa: going rates for eligible occupation codes — GOV.UK
4. Skilled Worker visa: Immigration Salary List — GOV.UK
5. Explanatory memorandum to the statement of changes to the Immigration Rules: HC 997 — GOV.UK
6. Register of licensed sponsors: workers — GOV.UK
7. Find an immigration adviser — GOV.UK

Frequently asked questions

What is the Skilled Worker salary threshold?

£41,700 a year, or the going rate for the occupation, whichever is higher. Defined groups have a lower general floor from £33,400. Verified against GOV.UK on 6 August 2026.

What is a going rate?

A published minimum salary for a specific occupation code, set out in the GOV.UK going rates table. It is stated on a 37.5-hour week and pro-rated for other hours.

How do I pro-rate a going rate?

Multiply the published rate by the role's weekly hours and divide by 37.5. A 30-hour role therefore requires 80% of the published figure, before the general threshold is applied.

Does a bonus count towards the salary requirement?

The tests look at guaranteed pay. Bonuses and equity do not lift a base salary into range.

Can a market salary tool tell me if a job meets the visa requirement?

Not reliably. Market tools estimate typical pay from titles; the rules depend on the occupation code, the published going rate, working hours, and any applicable lower floor.

Which occupation code applies to my job?

The one that matches the duties the role actually involves. The sponsor assigns it, and a title alone does not determine it.

What if the going rate is lower than £41,700?

Then the general threshold binds, because the requirement is the higher of the two. Code 5434 chefs, at a going rate of £33,400, is a published example.

What if the going rate is higher than £41,700?

Then the going rate binds. Code 1111 chief executives, at £88,100, is a published example.

Who qualifies for the 70% going rate?

New entrants, applicants under 26, students and recent graduates, and specified postdoctoral occupation codes, against a floor of £33,400.

Does a PhD reduce the salary requirement?

A relevant STEM PhD attracts 80% of the going rate with a £33,400 floor, and a relevant non-STEM PhD attracts 90% with a £37,500 floor.

Does being on the Immigration Salary List reduce the going rate?

No. It brings a lower general floor of £33,400, but the going rate for the occupation still applies.

How often do the figures change?

They change with rule changes and with updated earnings data. The going rates page carried a last-updated date of 22 July 2025 when we verified it on 6 August 2026. Check the source page before relying on any figure.

Is there a free way to check all of this?

Yes. The thresholds and the going rates table are published on GOV.UK at no cost, and the arithmetic is a single multiplication.

If the salary passes, will the employer sponsor?

Salary is a rule about the role, not a decision about you. A licence is permission to sponsor, not a promise to sponsor any role or any person.

Sources