Skilled Worker ILR: Salary, Employer Letter and Evidence

Would your employer’s letter still be accurate if someone compared every figure with your contract and latest payslip?

Nikhil’s HR team returned his ILR letter quickly. It confirmed that the company wanted to keep him, but the salary and weekly hours came from an old template. His current contract recorded £52,000 and 40 hours; the letter still said £48,000 and 37.5 hours.

In Nikhil’s example, the employment changes had been checked against the sponsorship requirements and his actual salary met the settlement rules applying to him. HR’s draft was the part that had fallen behind.

A Skilled Worker ILR employer letter should bring the current employment facts and the sponsor’s required confirmation together. Our Skilled Worker ILR guide covers the wider settlement application. This article explains how to request, prepare and check that particular document.

Establish what the sponsor must confirm

Under Appendix Skilled Worker, the sponsor connected with your most recent permission must remain approved to sponsor Skilled Workers when the Home Office decides the settlement application. The sponsor must also confirm that it continues to need your work and that your current and continuing salary meets the applicable settlement requirement.

An employment reference saying you are a valued colleague may provide background, but it can leave those required points unanswered. The person preparing the confirmation needs to understand its purpose.

The salary conclusion must be checked against the relevant settlement provisions and occupation rate. Our ILR salary requirements guide explains that assessment. Establish the applicable salary basis before asking HR to confirm that it is met.

The continuing-employment confirmation should reflect the employer’s actual position. It does not require an invented guarantee of employment for life. If resignation, redundancy or a sponsorship problem has arisen, obtain advice before relying on a routine confirmation.

Give HR a precise request and the right records

Start with the proposed application date, your current job details and the employment records already checked. Identify who can verify the facts and speak for the sponsoring employer. Payroll may confirm pay while HR or another authorised person confirms continuing employment.

A useful request could explain:

I am preparing my Skilled Worker settlement application. Please provide a dated confirmation of my current role, contracted weekly hours and gross basic annual salary, including the effective date of any recent change. It should also address the company’s continuing need for my work and the required current and continuing salary confirmation. Please use the verified current employment records and identify an appropriate contact for any Home Office enquiries.

Attach or identify the current contract variation where relevant. Ask for a draft while there is time to resolve questions.

Nikhil sent HR the signed variation and current payslip. That allowed the team to correct the source information instead of simply replacing one figure in a letter containing several outdated details.

Build the letter around verified employment facts

Separate the legal confirmations from the supporting information that makes the document intelligible. A clear employer letter will ordinarily identify the worker, sponsoring organisation and employment being discussed.

The following is a practical drafting guide, rather than a claim that every field is independently prescribed in one universal letter format:

Use the employer’s normal headed format where available. Include a sponsor licence number or sponsorship reference where useful. Follow any specific instructions in the application checklist.

Compare the draft with the contract, payslip and bank record

Read the documents together. The contract explains the agreed terms; the payslip shows the pay recorded for a period; the bank record shows the payment received. The sponsor’s confirmation should fit that evidence.

Nikhil’s comparison exposed two different problems:

Correcting the salary alone would have left the hours wrong. Those hours matter to the going-rate assessment, which had been completed separately using his actual occupation and circumstances. The £52,000 figure in this example is his assumed contractual pay, not a universal ILR threshold.

Compare gross pay with gross pay. The bank credit will normally reflect deductions, so it need not equal the gross salary shown on the payslip. Ask payroll to explain an unexpected difference, an unfamiliar payer name or a payment split across transactions.

Keep overtime, bonuses and other components identifiable. Their appearance on a payslip does not establish that they can count towards settlement salary. Our ILR evidence checklist explains the wider task of checking what each record establishes.

If the documents suggest the work itself has changed, investigate that too. Our guide to changing a sponsored worker’s job or occupation code explains why a new letter cannot resolve an outstanding permission or reporting issue by itself.

Use an employer letter template as a starting structure

A template is useful when its wording is adapted to checked facts. The employer must be able to support every statement it signs.

For a straightforward case, the central paragraphs might take this form:

We confirm that [full name] is currently employed by [sponsoring legal entity] as [job title], within occupation code [code]. Their contracted working week is [hours], and their current gross basic annual salary is £[amount], effective from [date]. We continue to need their services for the foreseeable future. We confirm that they are currently paid, and will continue to be paid for the foreseeable future, at least the salary required under the settlement provisions applicable to their employment. The stated salary and hours have been checked against those requirements. [Accurate explanation of any relevant recent change or recognised leave, where needed.] Please contact [name, position and contact details] if further information is required.

The employer should add its date and appropriate sign-off. The template assumes the salary conclusion has been verified and the continuing-employment statement is true. A fixed-term arrangement or known employment change needs its own assessment and accurate explanation.

Explain pay changes and recognised leave with supporting evidence

A genuine pay rise may need the effective date, contract variation and payroll evidence showing what has changed. Where the latest pay record does not yet show the amount the sponsor says will be paid, the Home Office guidance allows for further examination of that explanation and its supporting evidence. A revised letter alone does not settle the question.

Avoid inventing a universal rule that every increase must have appeared in a particular number of payslips. Identify the actual requirement and assess the records supporting the current and continuing pay.

Reduced or nil pay during certain recognised absences, including maternity or sick leave, can require consideration of the salary on return and confirmation of the relevant dates. Our guide to sponsored-worker leave and sickness absence explains the employment context.

Time away from work and time outside the UK also need separate attention. An employer’s leave approval does not replace the relevant ILR absence assessment.

If a pay reduction or unexplained change raises a compliance concern, resolve the scope of the advice needed before proceeding with an ordinary settlement application.

Refresh the evidence around the submission date

Prepare early enough for corrections, then check the final documents against the intended ILR application date.

The Skilled Worker caseworker guidance checked in October 2026 asks applicants, pending automated PAYE checks, for a payslip and a matching bank or building society record covering their most recent month’s pay. It says those documents should be dated no earlier than 31 days before application. Follow the current application instructions and check for any updated evidence process when applying.

Arrange an accurate, dated sponsor confirmation reflecting the current position. If submission moves, reassess the pay evidence and whether the employer’s statements remain correct. A PDF can remain readable long after the circumstances it describes have changed.

Keep the final signed version with the records used to check it. If HR supplies an amended letter, make sure the uploaded pack contains the intended version and retains any history needed to explain a material change.

Finish with a consistent application and a clear next step

HR corrected Nikhil’s salary and hours, checked the employment information and returned a new dated letter. His final comparison used that version, the current contract variation, the latest pay record and the corresponding bank evidence. The original mismatch had a clear explanation and had been resolved before submission.

There were still application tasks that HR could not complete for him. He needed to confirm any applicable English language evidence for ILR and Life in the UK Test requirement. A partner or child needed an individual Skilled Worker dependant ILR assessment.

The timetable also had to allow for ILR fees and processing times. Paying for an available faster service would not correct inaccurate employment evidence. Before committing to a trip, he would also need to understand travel while an ILR application is pending.

Knightsbridge’s ILR service supports suitable ordinary settlement applications. For a Case Assessment, bring the draft employer letter, current contract, hours and pay details, recent salary evidence and relevant grant history. Identify any change that needs explaining. Those records allow the discussion to address the actual uncertainty in the letter and the application supporting it.