UK Skilled Worker Visa Salary Thresholds 2026: Technical Reference for HR Systems and Compliance Tools

If you're building HR software, an ATS, or a compliance tool for UK employers, understanding how the Skilled Worker visa salary thresholds work is essential for keeping your data models and validation logic accurate. These thresholds changed significantly in April 2024, and getting them wrong in your system means your users could be issuing non-compliant Certificates of Sponsorship. This post breaks down the threshold logic technically, so you can implement it correctly. The Core Threshold Logic The minimum salary for a Skilled Worker visa is not a single flat number. It's the maximum of two values: min_salary = max ( general_threshold , soc_going_rate ) Where: general_threshold = £38,700 (as of April 2024) soc_going_rate = the published going rate for the worker's SOC 2020 code This means your system needs to store and look up going rates by SOC code, not just apply a flat salary check. The New Entrant Reduction A "new entrant" discount applies to certain candidate profiles. When the