Care Worker ILR After Five Years: Who Keeps the Five-Year Route and What Is Still Unconfirmed

Key Takeaways

• Care workers who entered or switched into the care route before 12 May 2025 keep the five-year route to ILR, but only if they meet its conditions. The government response to the earned settlement consultation (CP 1707, 2 November 2026, page 38) ties the protection to the publication of the Immigration White Paper on 12 May 2025. Care workers who joined after that date are on the standard 10-year pathway.
• The five-year route is confirmed government policy, not law yet. No Statement of Changes has been laid since HC 584 on 3 September 2026, so the current five-year rules in Appendix Skilled Worker apply to every application made today. The Home Secretary told MPs on 2 November 2026 that the changes will begin to be laid from the December Immigration Rules and be implemented over the course of 2027.
• Completing five years in the UK does not, on its own, earn you ILR. CP 1707 requires a salary of £25,000 a year, a licensed sponsor and genuine care work, plus the new mandatory requirements: B2 English, the Life in the UK test, no criminal record and no outstanding government debt. Its worked example (Individual B, page 41) says five years in the UK is not enough by itself.
• The government has not said how many years of £25,000 salary a care worker must show. CP 1707 sets a period for every other earnings test (£125,141 in 3 of the last 4 years, £50,271 in 3 of the last 5, £12,571 in 5 of the last 7), but for care workers it says only £25,000 a year.
• Today the Home Office checks your current salary, not a salary history over several years. Under SW 24.2 your sponsor confirms what you are paid now and will be paid for the foreseeable future, and for most care workers row D of SW 24.3 requires at least £25,000 a year and the going rate for your hours. You send your latest payslip and a bank statement showing that pay, and caseworkers can check your PAYE records for the last 12 months. If the new rules ask for past years, a year below £25,000 could mean no ILR at five years.
• If you do not qualify at five years, you can apply for a further five-year Health and Care visa rather than being refused outright. It is restricted to genuine work in the care sector with no recourse to public funds, so you would settle after about 10 years in total. CP 1707 estimates around 50,000 care workers and 50,000 dependants could be in this group.
• Your conduct does not move you from five years to ten: it can put you on 20 years or stop settlement altogether. An immigration breach as an adult (overstaying, breaching a visa condition such as unauthorised extra work, deception) or using public funds in the five years before applying means the 20-year pathway. Any UK criminal record means refusal, and unpaid NHS, tax or National Insurance debt blocks settlement until it is paid.
• From 1 February 2027, a care worker whose sponsor loses its licence will get up to 120 days to find a job offer and a further 60 days to sort out their visa. Until then the normal rule applies: if you were not involved in the reasons for revocation, the Home Office will normally shorten your permission to 60 calendar days (sponsor guidance Part 3, paragraph C10.10).
• Apply on your earliest eligible date and keep every salary record from now on. You can apply up to 28 days before you complete five years (Appendix Continuous Residence, CR 1.1), B2 English is already law for settlement applications made on or after 26 March 2027, and payslips, bank statements, P60s, your contract and your CoS details may all be needed.
• Our ILR five-year route service checks your entry date, salary and sponsor position and prepares your application under the current rules. We tell you whether you can apply now, what evidence to gather and what could stop you settling at five years.

Introduction

On 2 November 2026 the Home Office published A Fairer Pathway to Settlement: Government response to the consultation (CP 1707) on the GOV.UK earned settlement consultation page. For care workers, the headline was relief: those who entered or switched into the care route before May 2025 can keep the five-year route to indefinite leave to remain (ILR). Our post on the earned settlement decision covers the whole framework. This guide goes one level deeper, for care workers only.

Since the announcement, care workers have been asking us three questions. Am I really on five years? How many years of £25,000 salary will I have to prove? And what could knock me off the five-year route? The honest answer to the first is that five years is confirmed government policy, not law, and it is conditional. The answer to the second is that the government has not said. The third is where most of the confusion lies, because three very different outcomes are often mixed up.

None of this is law yet. As of 10 November 2026 the latest entry in the GOV.UK Statement of Changes collection is still HC 584 of 3 September 2026, which does not implement earned settlement. The current rules in Appendix Skilled Worker still decide every ILR application made today. In the Commons on 2 November 2026 the Home Secretary said the changes "will begin to be laid from the December immigration rules" and be implemented over the course of 2027 (Hansard, column 593). No commencement date has been published.

Below we set out who keeps the five-year route, what the conditions are, what has and has not been said about the £25,000, what happens if you fall short, what can push you onto a 20-year path or stop settlement altogether, and what to do now. Every point is taken from CP 1707 (cited by its printed page numbers), the Immigration Rules or Hansard, checked on 10 November 2026.

Five Years or Ten: The 12 May 2025 Cut-Off

CP 1707 draws the line at the publication of the Immigration White Paper, Restoring control over the immigration system, which GOV.UK shows as published on 12 May 2025. The government's reasoning (page 38) is that the White Paper publicly announced the move from five to ten years, so anyone joining the care route after it would have known settlement policy was changing.

The cut-off is not the date the new rules start, and it is not the date you apply for ILR. It is about when you entered, or switched into, the care worker route.

New care workers can no longer be recruited from overseas. Under SW 6.1B of Appendix Skilled Worker, an application in code 6135 or 6136 must be for permission to stay inside the UK, and the applicant must either already hold Skilled Worker permission as a care worker or have worked legally for the sponsor in the role for at least the three months before the CoS was issued (an option open to applications made before 22 July 2028). So most people in the post-White Paper group switched into care work inside the UK. CP 1707 Annex A puts that group at around 6,000 care workers and 5,000 dependants. Our guide to switching into care work under the three-month rule explains SW 6.1B.

Do not confuse the care worker arrangement with a separate one-off arrangement on page 40 of CP 1707, for health and education workers below RQF 6 on national pay scales, such as nursing auxiliaries and teaching assistants, who came before the White Paper. That arrangement has its own conditions. The earlier proposal of a 15-year route for workers below RQF 6 has been dropped (page 38).

Five Years Is Conditional, Not Automatic

This is the point most often missed. CP 1707 says pre-White Paper care workers keep five years "where they meet the applicable salary (£25,000 a year), sponsorship and employment requirements" (page 38). They must also meet the strengthened minimum requirements that apply to everyone under earned settlement, including criminality and English, unless an exemption applies.

The worked example on page 41 is blunt. Individual B entered on a Health and Care visa in 2023 but has not met all the requirements: they will not qualify simply because they have completed five years in the UK. Being in the protected group gets you to the starting line. It does not get you ILR.

The English and Life in the UK exemptions in CP 1707 cover children, people aged 65 and over, and people whose physical or mental condition prevents them from meeting the requirement. The GOV.UK outcome page states that exemptions will not apply to criminality. If B2 English applies to you, our guides to which English tests UKVI accepts for ILR after 26 March 2027 and the new B2 requirement for settlement explain what to book.

The £25,000 Question: For How Many Years?

What the government has said

CP 1707 says £25,000 a year (page 38). It does not say for how many years, and it does not say what evidence will be accepted. In the Commons on 2 November 2026 the Home Secretary described the group as "those who earned £25,000 a year working in the social care sector", which she said was the condition of their visa (Hansard, column 584). Later in the session (column 591) she spoke of care workers who have their £25,000 a year earnings and are with a care employer. Neither statement fixes a period or an evidence test. Those details will be in the Immigration Rules, and we will not guess at them.

The earnings tests CP 1707 did spell out

The contrast is striking. For every other earnings test, CP 1707 states both the threshold and the period under its "best years" approach (pages 11 to 12 and Table 1, page 42).

How salary is checked today

Under the current rules there is no multi-year salary history test for a care worker's ILR. SW 24.2 of Appendix Skilled Worker requires your sponsor to confirm that you are paid, and will be paid for the foreseeable future, at least the salary in SW 24.3. The check looks at your pay at the point of application, as confirmed by the sponsor.

You also have to prove that pay. The Home Office Skilled Worker caseworker guidance (section 22.5, version 20.0, published 3 August 2026) tells caseworkers to check your PAYE records for the past 12 months, although they need not go back that far unless they have concerns. Until automated PAYE checks are available, you should send a payslip and either a bank or building society statement or a building society passbook covering your most recent month's pay, dated no earlier than 31 days before you apply. If you are on, or have just returned from, maternity, paternity, adoption or sick leave, the caseworker looks at your salary on your return to work, as stated by your sponsor.

For a care worker sponsored in SOC 2020 code 6135 (care workers and home carers) or 6136 (senior care workers), the relevant line today is row D of the SW 24.3 table. Both codes are on the Appendix Immigration Salary List (removal date 22 July 2028), and both are "Health and Care ASHE salary jobs" under SW A1.1 where the employer is, for example, a provider registered with the Care Quality Commission. Row D requires:

• a salary of at least £25,000 a year; and
• at least the going rate in Tables 2 to 5 of Appendix Skilled Occupations. The care worker rate in Table 2aa is £25,000 (£12.82 an hour) for a 37.5-hour week, pro-rated to your hours under SW 14.4. On 39 hours a week, for example, the going rate becomes £26,000.

Only guaranteed basic gross pay counts (SW 14.1). Overtime, shift premiums, bonuses, allowances, benefits in kind and expenses do not (SW 14.2). That is why a care worker can earn more than £25,000 in practice and still fail the test on paper. Our 2026 guide to ILR salary thresholds explains the SW 24.3 table in more detail.

Why the missing period matters

If the new rules keep today's approach, a care worker who is paid at least £25,000 when they apply would meet the salary condition. If the new rules ask for past years, a care worker who earned under £25,000 in an earlier year, for example because their hours were cut, they were between sponsors or they were absent from work, would not qualify at five years and would need the further five-year visa. The government has not said which approach it will take. The safest course is to keep evidence of your pay for every year you have worked, starting now.

If You Do Not Qualify at Five Years: The Further Five-Year Health and Care Visa

CP 1707 accepts that the care sector saw exceptional sponsor failure and exploitation during the years this cohort was recruited, and that some workers were left without the work they had been promised (page 39). So falling short at five years does not end your route.

Pre-White Paper care workers who do not meet the requirements after five years will be able to apply for a further five-year Health and Care visa, restricted to genuine work in the sector, to give them more time to meet the requirements before applying for settlement again (page 39). They will continue to have no recourse to public funds on that visa. Individual B on page 41 is described as being supported into genuine, sponsored employment on a Health and Care route.

In the Commons the Home Secretary said this group would not be tied to their old employer, so that people with rogue sponsors could break away, and that they could apply for settlement once more at the end of the new visa (Hansard, columns 584 to 585). Annex A of CP 1707 (page 46) counts this group in the 10-year pathway and gives an indicative size of around 50,000 care workers and 50,000 dependants, out of around 196,000 care workers and 186,000 dependants expected to settle between 2026 and 2030. The same annex estimates that around 146,000 care workers and 136,000 dependants could qualify at five years.

What has not been published: the fee, whether the visa is granted in one go, whether the second attempt at settlement uses the same five-year transitional conditions, and how a change of sponsor will work. If you are already likely to fall short, take advice early so the extension is planned before your current visa runs out.

What Can Push You Much Longer, or Stop Settlement Altogether

Three different outcomes are often confused. Failing the salary, sponsorship or genuine-work test means about ten years, through the further five-year visa. An immigration breach or public funds use means the 20-year pathway. A criminal record or unpaid government debt stops settlement. Your conduct does not move you from five years to ten. It moves you much further, or stops you settling at all.

Immigration breaches, in plain words

CP 1707 lists breaching a condition of your permission as a qualifying breach (page 9). For a care worker, the conditions are in SW 18.2 of Appendix Skilled Worker: no access to public funds, and work only in the job you are sponsored for, with limited exceptions. One exception is supplementary employment. Under the definition in the Immigration Rules, a second job must be in an eligible occupation, must not exceed 20 hours a week, must be outside your contracted hours, and you must still be working in your sponsored job. Extra paid work outside those limits, such as cash-in-hand shifts or agency work in an ineligible role, can be a breach of conditions. You can test a second job with our free Can I Take Additional Work? tool.

The 20-year rule applies only to breaches committed, or started, when you were 18 or over (page 9).

A criminal record: a major change

Under the current rules, refusal of settlement is mandatory only where you received a custodial or suspended sentence of 12 months or more, or for persistent offending or offences causing serious harm (Part Suitability, SUI 5.1; CP 1707 page 7). Shorter sentences and out-of-court disposals lead to discretionary refusal. Under earned settlement, any UK criminal record as an adult will mean refusal (page 8). On CP 1707's wording, that includes a fine imposed by a court. Discretion remains for offences committed while under 18.

Public funds and government debt

Your Health and Care Worker visa already carries a no recourse to public funds condition, as the GOV.UK Health and Care Worker visa page explains. Under earned settlement, the government will first use the existing definition in the Home Office public funds guidance and will confirm which benefits count, and any exemptions, before implementation (page 14). If you have ever claimed a benefit, take advice before you apply. If you owe NHS charges, tax or National Insurance, clearing them now removes a bar that CP 1707 makes mandatory.

If Your Sponsor Loses Its Licence

CP 1707 gives care workers more time than other sponsored workers when a sponsor licence is revoked. From 1 February 2027, a care worker who loses their job because the sponsor's licence has been removed will have up to 120 days to secure a job offer and a further 60 days to resolve their visa and employment status. If they cannot secure a job offer within 120 days, or resolve their status within 180 days, the visa will be curtailed (page 39). The government also says it will continue to work with care workers to help them find a new employer.

This is policy too. Until 1 February 2027, and until the rule is in place, the current position in sponsor guidance Part 3 (paragraph C10.10) applies. If you were not involved in the reasons for revocation, the Home Office will normally shorten your permission so you have 60 calendar days left, and will not normally shorten it at all if you already have 60 days or less. If it believes you were knowingly involved, it will normally cancel all your remaining permission.

Revocation also matters for ILR today. SW 24.1 requires the sponsor in your most recent permission to still be licensed on the date your ILR application is decided. Our guides on what care workers can do after a sponsor licence is revoked and whether you can still get ILR after five years if your sponsor licence is revoked explain the options. You can check a sponsor on the GOV.UK register of licensed sponsors and look for a new role with our sponsored job eligibility tool.

Partners and Children

CP 1707 moves away from making every family member earn settlement separately (chapter 5). Under earned settlement:

• a partner who arrives with the main applicant can settle at the same time, provided they meet the relevant requirements; a partner who joins later must complete the same qualifying residence period (page 25);
• children under 18 can settle with their parents and are exempt from the income, government debt, English and Life in the UK requirements, but not from suitability and criminality (page 25);
• young adults aged 18 to 24 who keep child-dependant status can settle with the family and must meet the adult mandatory requirements, except the individual income requirement (page 25); and
• someone aged 25 or over when the family becomes eligible will normally need to qualify independently (page 26).

CP 1707 does not deal separately with the partners and children of protected care workers, although Annex A counts around 136,000 dependants alongside the 146,000 care workers in its five-year estimate. Until the rules say more, the current dependant rules apply. Under SW 42.1 a dependent partner needs five years' continuous residence as your partner, and under SW 44.1 a partner applying for settlement needs B1 English in speaking and listening before 26 March 2027 and B2 on or after that date, unless an exemption applies. Our guides on whether care workers can bring their family to the UK and what happens when your partner joined you later explain today's position. The household income point for couples is covered in the earned settlement decision post linked in the introduction.

It Is Not Law Yet: What to Do Now

Until a Statement of Changes is laid and comes into force, the current five-year rules apply. CP 1707 also says that, unless transitional provisions are made, applications are ordinarily decided under the Immigration Rules in force on the date of decision (page 37). No one can promise that an application made now will be protected, but an application decided before the new rules start is decided under the current ones. Our earlier post on what the Home Secretary told MPs about transitional protection explains the timing risk.

• Apply on your earliest eligible date. Under Appendix Continuous Residence, CR 1.1, your five years can be counted back from any date up to 28 days after you apply, so you can apply up to 28 days early. Our guide to what counts towards your five-year qualifying period explains absences and gaps, and our free ILR eligibility calculator gives you a date.
• Book your English test early if you will apply on or after 26 March 2027. B2 applies to those applications under SW 22A.1. You will also need the Life in the UK test.
• Check that your sponsor is still licensed and still needs you. Both are conditions on the date of decision (SW 24.1 and SW 24.2).
• Clear any NHS, tax or National Insurance debt. Refusal for debt is discretionary today, but it will be a mandatory bar under earned settlement.
• Start keeping records for every year you have worked. We do not yet know which evidence will be accepted, so keep everything in the table below.

What Is Still Unconfirmed

These are the points CP 1707 leaves open. Each will be settled only when the Immigration Rules and the promised technical guidance are published.

How Can WorkPermitCloud Help?

WorkPermitCloud is an IAA-regulated immigration adviser (F202100311) that prepares and submits ILR applications for care workers on the Health and Care Worker visa and their families. We check the date you entered or switched into the care route, whether your salary meets row D of the SW 24.3 table today, whether your sponsor is still licensed, and whether anything in your history could put you on a longer pathway under earned settlement.

If you can apply now, our ILR five-year route service prepares and submits your application under the current rules. If you are likely to fall short at five years, our Health and Care visa service handles the extension and our ILR 10-year route service plans the longer path.

Conclusion

If you entered or switched into the care route before 12 May 2025, the five-year route is still open to you, but it is a conditional promise in a policy document, not a rule you can rely on yet. You will need £25,000 a year, a licensed sponsor, genuine care work and the new mandatory requirements, and the government has not yet said how many years of that salary you must prove. Falling short means about ten years through a further visa. A breach or public funds use means twenty, and a criminal record or unpaid government debt stops settlement.

While the current rules apply, the practical steps are the same for everyone: apply as soon as you are eligible, keep your sponsor and salary in order, and keep every record of your pay. We will publish a follow-up when the Statement of Changes is laid.

Glossary