SIGN IN

Promoting Quality in Teacher Education

DfE: Immigration Changes: implications for schools (December 2023)

Summary

Key headlines on the immigration changes announced by the Home Secretary this month, and what these changes will mean for schools.

DfE: Immigration Changes: implications for schools

Following the announcements yesterday from the Home Secretary on changes the Government will make to the immigration system from Spring 2024, the DfE have pulled together some headline bullets on what these changes mean for schools:

Increases to the salary threshold.

· The Home Office has made clear in their press notice that education and health occupations with national pay scales will be exempt from the increased £38,700 salary threshold for skilled worker visas. This includes teachers.

· Teachers, along with other health and education occupations are treated differently in the immigration system. To be sponsored for a skilled worker visa a teacher needs to earn at least the minimum of the relevant teacher pay range, not the Home Office’s salary threshold. This applies to all teachers regardless of the type of school they teach in or whether they are paid on national pay ranges or not. This will not change when the new £38,700 threshold is introduced in the Spring.

· Independent schools and academies who pay teachers at rates below the national pay scale are not able to obtain a skilled worker visa for any teachers in this position.

· The national pay scales do not apply to support roles. For example, teaching assistants would need to earn the general Home Office salary threshold - currently £26,200 and from March £38,700. We believe that it is unlikely that many schools will be affected by this change in the threshold as most teaching assistant salaries are unlikely to meet the current threshold to qualify for a skilled worker visa. Only some types of roles are eligible for a skilled worker visa regardless of salary. There is more information on this at Skilled Worker visa: eligible occupations and codes - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

· EU nationals and other overseas nationals who have settled or pre-settled status or indefinite leave to remain will continue to not need a visa to live and work in the UK.

Replacing the Shortage Occupation List

· These arrangements also mean that the announcement to replace the Shortage Occupation List (SOL) with a new Immigration Salary List is unlikely to have a significant impact on teachers. This is because teachers of any subject are already eligible to be sponsored for a visa regardless of whether their role is on the SOL - provided they earn at least the minimum of the relevant teacher pay range.

· Secondary school teachers of MFL, Physics, General Science with Physics, Maths and Computing are currently on the SOL and benefit from paying slightly reduced visa fees.

Immigration Health Surcharge

· The increase to the Immigration Health Surcharge from £624 to £1,035 will apply to teachers from next spring.

The Graduate Visa