Earned Settlement Decision: 10-Year ILR Confirmed, Care Workers Keep Five Years

Key Takeaways

• The government has made its final decision on earned settlement, but the new rules are not law yet. The Home Office published its response to the consultation (CP 1707) on 2 November 2026, and no Statement of Changes has been laid, so the current five-year rules still apply to every application today.
• Ten years is now the confirmed standard route to settlement for most migrants. You need earnings of at least £12,571 in five of the seven years before applying, B2 English, the Life in the UK test, no criminal record and no unpaid government debt.
• Care workers who entered or switched into the route before the May 2025 White Paper keep the five-year route. They must meet the £25,000 salary, sponsorship and employment requirements. Those who fall short at five years are not refused outright but get a second chance through a further five-year Health and Care visa, which in practice means settling after about 10 years.
• Care workers who joined the route after May 2025 are on the 10-year route. The transitional protection is tied to the publication of the Immigration White Paper on 12 May 2025, not to the date the new rules start.
• The proposed 15-year route for lower-skilled workers has been dropped. Workers below RQF level 6, including chefs and butchers, go onto the 10-year route instead, and the pre-April 2024 Skilled Worker cohort can keep extending on its old salary terms until 2035.
• High earners and key public servants can still settle in five years or less. Earning £50,271 or more in three of the last five years gives five years, earning £125,141 or more in three of the last four years gives three years, and doctors, nurses, teachers and social workers get five years.
• Partners and children of British citizens stay on a five-year route. UK Ancestry applicants also keep five years, provided they meet the new mandatory requirements.
• Claiming public funds or breaking immigration rules now has a heavy cost. An adult immigration breach such as overstaying puts you on a 20-year route, and accessing specified public funds in the five years before applying means you must either complete five years without them or wait 20 years.
• The 10-year Long Residence route will close, and time on Student and Graduate visas will stop counting. Only time on routes that lead to settlement, such as Skilled Worker, Global Talent and family routes, will build towards ILR.
• If you reach five years before the new rules start, apply on your earliest valid date. Applications are normally decided under the rules in force on the date of decision, and our indefinite leave to remain service can check your dates and prepare the application now.

Introduction

On 2 November 2026 the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, set out the government's final decisions on earned settlement in the House of Commons. On the same day the Home Office published A Fairer Pathway to Settlement: Government Response to the Consultation (CP 1707), a 62-page document that replaces almost a year of proposals and speculation with confirmed policy.

The headline is that the standard wait for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) moves from five years to 10. The biggest change from the original plan is for care workers. Instead of the 15-year wait proposed in November 2025, care workers who entered or switched into the care route before May 2025 keep a five-year route if they meet the salary and sponsorship requirements.

There is one point you must understand before reading further. This is confirmed government policy, not law. The new rules only take effect once the Home Office lays a Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules before Parliament. As of 2 November 2026 the latest statement in the GOV.UK Statement of Changes collection is still HC 584 of 3 September 2026, which does not change the settlement qualifying period. The government has not given a start date.

This guide explains exactly what was decided, who wins and who loses, how care workers, chefs, families and public service workers are affected, and what you should do now while the current rules still apply.

What Has Been Decided and What Is Still Not Law

The table below separates what the government has confirmed from what still has to happen before anything changes for your application.

The government response also states that, unless transitional provisions say otherwise, applications are ordinarily decided under the Immigration Rules in force on the date of the decision. That is why timing matters so much for anyone who will complete five years in the coming months. We explained the timing risk in our earlier post on what the Home Secretary told MPs about transitional protection.

The New Settlement Pathways at a Glance

Under earned settlement, your qualifying period depends on your contribution, your compliance and the route you are on. Every pathway also requires the mandatory requirements set out in the next section.

The earnings thresholds are tied to UK income tax bands, so they will move automatically if those bands change. Under the "best years" test, a year of maternity leave, illness or caring does not automatically push you onto a longer route. The public funds test will use the existing definition in the Immigration Rules, set out in the Home Office public funds guidance, and the government will confirm which benefits count, and any safeguards, before implementation.

You can check where your own dates currently fall using our free ILR eligibility calculator.

The Mandatory Requirements Everyone Must Meet

These requirements apply on every pathway. Higher earnings or public service cannot offset them.

The criminal record rule is a major tightening. Under the current rules, a sentence under 12 months or an out-of-court disposal leads to discretionary refusal, not automatic refusal. Under earned settlement, any UK criminal record as an adult means refusal.

On English, the move to B2 for settlement was already decided separately and applies from 26 March 2027. Our guide on which English tests UKVI will accept for ILR after 26 March 2027 explains which tests to book.

Children, people aged 65 and over, and people whose physical or mental condition prevents them from meeting a requirement keep the existing exemptions from the income, English and Life in the UK requirements.

Care Workers: The Biggest Change From the Original Plan

The November 2025 consultation proposed that lower-paid workers, including care workers, could wait 15 years for settlement. The government has now decided to treat care workers already in the UK as what CP 1707 calls a "unique cohort".

Care workers who joined the care route before May 2025

If you entered the care worker route, or switched into it, before the Immigration White Paper was published on 12 May 2025, you keep the existing five-year qualifying period. To use it you must meet:

• the £25,000 a year salary requirement;
• the sponsorship and employment requirements of your route; and
• the new mandatory requirements, including the criminality rule and B2 English, unless an exemption applies.

If you do not meet those requirements after five years, you will not qualify for settlement at that point, but you will not lose your route either. You can apply for a further five-year Health and Care visa, restricted to genuine work in the care sector with a licensed sponsor, to give you a second chance to meet the requirements. You will stay subject to no recourse to public funds during that visa. In practice, this means a total wait of around 10 years, and the government counts this group on the 10-year pathway.

The government's own estimate is that around 146,000 care workers and 136,000 dependants could settle through the transitional five-year arrangement, and around 50,000 care workers and 50,000 dependants could need the further visa.

One point to watch for care workers whose partner does not work. A care worker earning £25,000 meets their own salary requirement, but the household income threshold that a non-earning partner relies on is £25,142, so that partner may fall £142 short. CP 1707 does not deal with this case directly, and the detailed rules may clarify it.

Care workers who joined after May 2025

If you entered or switched into the care worker route after the White Paper was published, the transitional protection does not apply. You go onto the standard 10-year earned settlement route. The Home Office estimates this affects around 6,000 care workers and 5,000 dependants.

More time if your sponsor loses its licence

From 1 February 2027, care workers whose sponsor's licence is revoked will have up to 120 days to secure a new 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, their visa will be curtailed. This is longer than the 60 days given to other sponsored workers. Our guide for care workers whose sponsor licence has been revoked explains the current process.

Chefs, Butchers and Other Skilled Workers Below RQF 6

The government has dropped the proposed 15-year route for workers in occupations below RQF level 6. That is good news compared with the consultation. However, there is no special protection for chefs, butchers or similar roles. They go onto the standard 10-year route unless they earn enough for a faster one.

In practice, a chef on a Skilled Worker visa will need 10 years unless they earn at least £50,271 in three of the five years before applying, in which case five years is available. The Home Office estimates that around 146,000 Skilled Workers and 85,000 dependants who were expected to settle between 2026 and 2030 will now be on the 10-year pathway.

There is one helpful measure. Workers who were already in the Skilled Worker route before the April 2024 salary increases were given transitional arrangements to extend under the older, lower salary thresholds, with a sunset date of 2030. Because these workers now face a 10-year route, the government will let them extend their visas on their current terms until 2035.

Chefs who first came to the UK under the rules in force before 22 July 2025 should also read our post on why chefs, bar managers and bakers lost Skilled Worker eligibility from 22 July 2025, as it explains how extensions work for those already in the route.

Who Can Still Settle in Five Years or Less

Higher earners

Earning at least £50,271 in three of the five years before applying gives a five-year route. Earning at least £125,141 in three of the four years before applying gives a three-year route. Our 2026 guide to ILR salary thresholds explains how salary is assessed under the current rules.

Public service workers in health and education

Workers in specified health and education occupations paid on national pay scales qualify for a permanent five-year route. Annex C of CP 1707 lists them, including doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, pharmacists, physiotherapists, radiographers, teachers, head teachers and social workers.

There is also a one-off arrangement for health and education workers below RQF 6 on national pay scales, such as nursing auxiliaries and teaching assistants. If they came to the UK before the May 2025 White Paper and meet the requirements of their visa, they keep five years. Those arriving after that date go onto the 10-year route.

British connections

Partners, parents and children of British citizens stay on a five-year route, as do Commonwealth citizens on the UK Ancestry route. This element was not subject to consultation and has been confirmed.

Good News and Bad News

Long Residence Closes and Temporary Visas Stop Counting

Under the current rules, someone can settle after 10 years of continuous lawful residence through the Long Residence route, combining time on almost any visa. Under earned settlement, the Long Residence route will close.

Only time on routes intended to lead to settlement will count. These include Skilled Worker, Health and Care, Global Talent, Scale-up, Innovator Founder, UK Ancestry, Minister of Religion, International Sportsperson and family partner routes. Time on the following routes will not count: Visit, Student, Graduate, High Potential Individual, Global Business Mobility, Temporary Worker routes, Youth Mobility, Seasonal Worker, Overseas Domestic Worker and the Ukraine schemes. The treatment of leave outside the rules will be confirmed later.

This is a serious change for international graduates. A student who spent four years studying and two years on a Graduate visa before switching to a Skilled Worker visa currently builds towards Long Residence. Under earned settlement, only the Skilled Worker years will count. Our guide to what counts towards your five-year ILR qualifying period sets out the current position.

Families and Dependants

The government moved away from requiring every family member to earn settlement separately.

If your partner joined you after you arrived, our post on completing five years when your partner joined later explains the current rules, which still apply until the new rules start.

Who Is Outside Earned Settlement

Some groups keep their existing arrangements, although most will still need to meet the new criminality rule and B2 English unless an exemption applies.

• Hong Kong BN(O) visa holders keep five years.
• Afghan schemes keep immediate settlement.
• HM Armed Forces personnel keep settlement after four years' reckonable service.
• The EU Settlement Scheme and the Windrush scheme are not affected.
• Bereaved partners and victims of domestic abuse can still apply for settlement immediately.
• Children in local authority care, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people who have grown up in the UK keep their existing arrangements.

Anyone who already holds ILR is not affected. The Home Secretary confirmed when launching the consultation that the government will not change the rules for people who already have settled status.

Refugees and Illegal Entry

Refugees resettled through designated safe and legal routes, such as the UK Resettlement Scheme, will settle after five years. People granted protection after claiming asylum in the UK will move onto Core Protection, with a 20-year route, or a 10-year route if they move into sustained work or study. Anyone who entered the UK illegally will ordinarily face an additional 10 years, except where Article 31 of the Refugee Convention protects them.

What You Should Do Now

Until a Statement of Changes is laid and comes into force, the current rules apply. The practical steps below depend on where you are.

Employers sponsoring care staff should also make sure their sponsor duties are in order. Our free HR compliance audit checks your records against Home Office requirements.

How Can WorkPermitCloud Help?

WorkPermitCloud is an IAA-regulated immigration adviser (F202100311) that prepares and submits indefinite leave to remain applications for Skilled Workers, care workers and their families. We can check exactly when you qualify under the current rules, whether you fall within the care worker or public service transitional protection, and whether your earnings put you on a faster route under earned settlement.

Our ILR five-year route service handles applications that need to be submitted before the rules change, and our ILR 10-year route service supports applicants on longer pathways. For employers, our Health and Care visa service and sponsor licence service keep your workforce compliant while the new rules are finalised.

Conclusion

The earned settlement decision answers the biggest question of the last year: the standard route to settlement will be 10 years. The government has softened the plan in important ways, especially for care workers who joined the care route before May 2025, families, and workers below RQF 6, who will no longer face 15 years.

But nothing changes until the Home Office lays new Immigration Rules, and no date has been set. If you can apply for ILR under the current rules before then, that is likely to be your safest option. If you cannot, the time to prepare is now: protect your salary record, clear any government debt, avoid public funds and book your B2 English test.

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