Home Office Salary Checks for Sponsor Licences: What Every UK Employer Must Know

Key Takeaways

• The Home Office regularly checks, through compliance checks, HMRC checks or both, that you are paying each sponsored worker at least the salary on their Certificate of Sponsorship.
• Only guaranteed basic gross pay counts towards the salary on a Certificate of Sponsorship. Allowances, shift pay, bonuses, overtime, commission and benefits in kind do not count, even when they are guaranteed, and including allowances in the certificate salary is a ground on which the Home Office may revoke your licence.
• Where the Certificate of Sponsorship was assigned on or after 8 April 2026, pay is tested twice. It must meet the going rate for every hour worked in each pay period, and it must reach a quarter of the annual salary over any three-month period, or 12/52 of it over any 12-week period for workers paid more often than monthly.
• A shortfall in one pay period cannot be made up in a later one, and meeting the three-month or 12-week total does not cure a pay period that fell below the going rate.
• Salary changes must be reported in the Sponsorship Management System (SMS) within ten working days.
• You must normally stop sponsoring a worker who is absent without pay, or on reduced pay, for more than four weeks in total in a calendar year, unless the absence is for a permitted reason such as statutory family leave or sick leave, which you must still report.
• National Minimum Wage increases apply to all sponsored workers. From 1 April 2026, the National Living Wage is £12.71 per hour for workers aged 21 and over.   

Introduction

A Home Office salary check notification is enough to make any sponsor's heart sink. But panic is rarely the answer; preparation is. In 2026, the Home Office has significantly sharpened its compliance tools, and remote salary checks have become one of its most powerful.

For the full picture on your duties as a sponsor, including reporting deadlines, the records you must keep and how the Home Office checks what you pay, see our guidance on Sponsor Licence: Compliance and Duties.

Unlike a full licence inspection, a remote salary check targets one focused question: does the salary declared on a worker's Certificate of Sponsorship match what that worker is actually receiving through payroll? Because the Home Office makes regular checks with HMRC, discrepancies can be identified before the check even begins.

This guide walks you through exactly what a remote salary check involves, how the Home Office analyses your earnings data, the two pay period tests, and the practical steps you can take right now to protect your sponsor licence.

What Is a Home Office Remote Salary Check?

A remote salary check is a compliance exercise carried out by the Home Office without requiring an on-site visit to your premises. Instead, compliance officers make contact by email, invite you to a video call, and ask you to share your HR and payroll systems live on-screen.

The purpose is focused and specific: to verify that the salary declared on each sponsored worker's CoS reflects what those workers are genuinely receiving through your payroll. Unlike a broader sponsor compliance visit, which may examine your wider HR systems, right-to-work checks and record-keeping across all sponsored staff, a salary check is targeted directly at pay.

Remote salary checks can be triggered by a range of factors: routine post-licence compliance activity, a discrepancy identified through HMRC data matching, a complaint or tip-off, a change reported (or not reported) through the SMS, or simply because your organisation is newly licensed and subject to closer initial scrutiny.

How the Home Office Cross-References Your Payroll with HMRC

One of the most significant developments in sponsor compliance in recent years is the Home Office's ability to compare payroll data held by HMRC against the salary figures recorded on Certificates of Sponsorship. This data-sharing arrangement means that inconsistencies between your PAYE records and your declared CoS salaries can be identified remotely, well before you receive any notification.

In practice, this means the Home Office may already be aware of a potential discrepancy before they contact you. The check is therefore less about discovering a problem and more about giving you the opportunity to explain or rectify it. If your payroll and CoS salary figures are consistent, the exercise is straightforward. If they are not, the consequences include a downgrade to a B-rating, suspension or revocation of your sponsor licence. Where you are paying less than you said you would, and the lower amount would not qualify under the same salary option the worker's permission was granted on, the guidance says the Home Office will revoke.

This data matching also means that employers who attempt to correct records only after receiving a notification are unlikely to succeed. Compliance officers are experienced at identifying records that have been backdated or otherwise assembled in a hurry.

What Counts as Salary Under Sponsor Licence Rules?

This is where many sponsors unknowingly create problems for themselves. The Home Office definition of salary for sponsorship purposes is narrower than most employers assume. It is important to understand the distinction before any check arrives.

What counts toward the CoS salary figure:

• Guaranteed basic gross pay: your worker's standard contractual salary before income tax, including the employee's own pension and National Insurance contributions
• Other guaranteed payments: but only where they are treated exactly the same as basic gross pay for tax, pension and National Insurance purposes

What does not count:

• Allowances, such as accommodation, cost of living or location allowances, even if they are guaranteed
• Shift allowance or shift premium, whether or not it is guaranteed
• Employer pension and employer National Insurance contributions
• One-off payments such as a joining bonus
• Bonuses (whether annual, quarterly or ad hoc)
• Overtime pay
• Commission payments
• Benefits in kind, such as a company car, private health insurance or gym membership
• Any payment relating to immigration costs, such as the visa application fee or the Immigration Health Charge

There is one narrow exception. A worker first granted permission as a Tier 2 (General) Migrant, with continuous permission since and whose last grant you sponsored, may have guaranteed allowances such as London weighting included, where they would also be paid to a settled worker. That exception ends for applications made on or after 1 December 2026. In every other case, putting an allowance in the salary figure on the certificate is something the Home Office may revoke your licence for.

Deductions deserve particular attention. Some costs can never be recovered from a sponsored worker: the Skilled Worker sponsor licence fee, the Certificate of Sponsorship fee where the certificate was assigned on or after 31 December 2024, the Immigration Skills Charge, and the administrative costs associated with them. Recouping them, or trying to, normally means revocation. Where a worker does repay a cost you are allowed to recover, such as a loan for their own visa fee, the Home Office subtracts it from their salary when it tests the thresholds, averaged over the period on the certificate. The reduced figure must still meet the salary threshold and the National Minimum Wage. For more on the cost implications of sponsoring workers, see our guide to UK Immigration and Visa Fee Increases from 8 April 2026.

Salary Components: What Counts and What Does Not

The Pay Period Rule: Two Tests

Where the Certificate of Sponsorship was assigned on or after 8 April 2026, the worker must be paid in pay periods of at least monthly frequency, unless their contract says otherwise, and pay is tested in two ways. Both must be met.

The first test is per pay period. The salary paid in each pay period must equal or exceed the going rate for every hour worked in that period. A shortfall in one period cannot be averaged away.

The second test is a rolling total:

• For workers paid monthly or less often: over any three-month period, pay must be at least a quarter of the required annual salary
• For workers paid more often than monthly: over any 12-week period, pay must be at least 12/52 of the required annual salary
• For workers on an irregular pattern you have confirmed to the Home Office: over any 17-week period, pay must be at least 17/52 of the required annual salary

"Any" means any. The Home Office is not limited to the most recent three months, and meeting the rolling total does not cure a single pay period that fell below the going rate.

For more on these rules, see our detailed guide to New Skilled Worker Visa Pay Period Rules (2026).

The Rolling Pay Test

What Happens During the Live Remote Interview

Once you receive a salary check notification, you will be invited to a video call with a Home Office compliance officer. The call typically involves three elements.

The screen share

You will be asked to share your screen and navigate through your HR and payroll systems live during the call. The officer is looking for evidence that your records are genuine, maintained in real time and consistent across systems. Records that appear to have been recently assembled or backdated are a significant red flag.

The records review

The officer will want to see payslips, payroll run summaries and potentially bank payment records for your sponsored workers. These will be cross-referenced against the salary figures on each worker's CoS. The Skilled Worker visa salary requirements must be met at all times, not just at the point of application.

The questions

You may be asked to explain your salary structure, demonstrate how wages are calculated, account for any fluctuations in a worker's pay history, or explain any allowances or deductions. Clear, confident and consistent answers supported by accurate records are your best defence.

The Most Common Licence-Losing Mistakes

Through working with sponsors across the UK, WorkPermitCloud has identified a consistent set of errors that lead to sponsor licence suspension or revocation following a salary check.

1. Failing to report salary changes in the SMS within ten working days

The duty to report changes via the Sponsorship Management System is one of the most frequently breached obligations. If a sponsored worker receives a pay reduction, moves from full-time to part-time, changes role, or experiences any other change affecting the CoS salary, you must report it within ten working days. This is required under SMS reporting obligations (Manual 9), and failure is treated as a compliance breach in its own right, regardless of whether the underlying change was permissible. Reporting does not make a reduction lawful. Unless the reduction is one the guidance permits, you must assign a new Certificate of Sponsorship, and the worker must make a successful new application, before you start paying the lower rate.

2. Carrying on sponsoring through unpaid leave of more than four weeks

You must normally stop sponsoring a worker who is absent without pay, or on reduced pay, for more than four weeks in total in a calendar year, counted on their normal working pattern, and report that you have done so. The exceptions are statutory maternity, paternity, parental, shared parental, adoption or neonatal care leave, sick leave, helping with a humanitarian or environmental crisis with your agreement, legally organised industrial action, jury service and attending court as a witness. Where an exception applies you can keep sponsoring the worker, but you must still report the absence, the reason, how long it lasts and any change to salary through the SMS.

3. Not applying National Minimum Wage increases to sponsored workers

From 1 April 2026, the National Living Wage increased to £12.71 per hour for workers aged 21 and over. Sponsored workers must always be paid at least the applicable NMW for their age and working pattern. Failing to apply annual NMW uplifts creates a dual compliance breach, affecting both immigration rules and employment law. Our guide to UK Employment Law Changes in April 2026 covers these changes in full.

4. Including non-qualifying elements in the CoS salary figure

Including allowances, shift pay, bonuses or overtime in the CoS salary. Only guaranteed basic gross pay counts. Putting anything else in the figure overstates the salary and is itself a revocation risk.

5. Deducting visa fees without adjusting the CoS figure

If a worker repays a cost you are allowed to recover, the Home Office subtracts it from the salary it assesses. You can never recover the sponsor licence fee, the Certificate of Sponsorship fee or the Immigration Skills Charge from a worker. Ensure that figure still meets the Skilled Worker visa salary threshold and the applicable National Minimum Wage. For a current breakdown of visa fee levels, see our UK Immigration and Visa Fee guide.

Key SMS Reporting Triggers and Deadlines

How to Prepare Before a Salary Check Arrives

Most salary check failures are preventable. The following steps will put any sponsor in a strong position, regardless of whether a check ever arrives.

1. Pull at least three months of payslips for every sponsored worker and verify that every individual pay period meets the going rate for the hours worked, and that the total matches the salary declared on the relevant CoS.
2. Check your bank statements to confirm that net amounts transferred to sponsored workers are consistent with payroll records.
3. Log into the SMS and review whether any reports are overdue. Common overdue items include salary changes, role changes and absences.
4. Verify NMW compliance for every sponsored worker at their current pay rate and working hours. Apply the April 2026 rates immediately if you have not already done so.
5. Review any salary deduction arrangements. Confirm that none recovers the licence fee, the Certificate of Sponsorship fee or the Immigration Skills Charge, and that the salary left after permitted deductions still meets the threshold.
6. Run a free HR compliance audit at WorkPermitCloud. The audit walks you through each of the above checkpoints in around five minutes and highlights any gaps in your records.

It is also worth reviewing the ILR salary thresholds for your sponsored workers, particularly those approaching five years of leave. See our guide to the 2026 Guide to UK ILR Salary Thresholds for the current figures and common traps.

Conclusion

A Home Office remote salary check is not something to fear if your payroll records, documentation and SMS reports are in good order. The checks are designed to catch genuine non-compliance, and sponsors who maintain accurate, real-time records and report changes promptly have very little to worry about.

Where the certificate was assigned on or after 8 April 2026, pay is tested in every pay period and over a rolling three months, 12 weeks or 17 weeks. A single short pay period can fail the first test even when the rolling total is met, so check each pay period, not only the average.

Take action now. Pull three months of payslips, check your SMS for overdue reports, verify your National Minimum Wage compliance and run a free HR audit at WorkPermitCloud. A few minutes of preparation today is far better than defending a licence suspension tomorrow.

How Can WorkPermitCloud Help?

WorkPermitCloud specialises in sponsor licence management and HR compliance for UK employers. Whether you have just received a salary check notification or want to prepare ahead of one, our team can review your payroll records, audit your SMS reports and ensure your documentation is in order before any interview takes place. Run our free five-minute HR audit at workpermitcloud.co.uk, with no sign-up required.

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