A sponsored employee is preparing for maternity leave. Another needs several months away from work following an operation. Their normal salary will reduce, and part of the absence may be unpaid.
For the employee, the immediate concern is whether taking leave could affect their visa. For the employer, it is whether sponsorship can continue when the worker is no longer receiving the salary recorded on their Certificate of Sponsorship.
Recognised maternity and sick leave can allow sponsorship to continue when pay reduces or stops. The ordinary four-week limit on unpaid or reduced-pay absence has specific exceptions. Those exceptions need to be applied alongside the employer’s reporting duties and the worker’s own immigration deadlines.
The starting point is the reason for the absence. A low payslip, considered alone, cannot establish whether there is a sponsorship problem.
The reason for the absence determines which rules apply
Part Suitability of the Immigration Rules provides for possible cancellation where a sponsored worker has been absent without pay, or on reduced pay, for more than four weeks during a calendar year. It also specifies exceptions.
The recognised categories include:
| Category | Absences covered |
|---|---|
| Statutory family leave | Maternity, paternity, parental, shared parental, adoption and neonatal care leave |
| Sickness | Sick leave |
| Public responsibilities | Jury service and attending court as a witness |
| Other specified circumstances | Legally organised industrial action, or assistance with a national or international humanitarian or environmental crisis where the sponsor agreed to that absence |
The Rules also recognise salary reductions associated with these permitted absences. Crossing four weeks does not automatically cancel a visa, and a qualifying exception can prevent that absence from engaging this cancellation ground.
The practical assessment should therefore establish the leave category before calculating its consequences.
An employer’s system may record several different situations as “unpaid leave”. That label is insufficient if one employee is taking statutory maternity leave and another is taking an extended personal holiday.
Can a Skilled Worker take maternity leave?
Yes. Statutory maternity leave is expressly recognised within the sponsorship framework.
Eligible employees can take up to 52 weeks of statutory maternity leave. That period consists of 26 weeks of ordinary maternity leave followed by 26 weeks of additional maternity leave. The entitlement to leave and the entitlement to maternity pay require separate consideration.
A sponsored worker should not assume they must return after four weeks because their normal salary has stopped. The Skilled Worker sponsor guidance permits temporary reductions associated with recognised leave, including periods when only statutory payments are received.
Before leave begins, the employee and employer should have a clear record of the planned dates and payment arrangements. Where the return date is not yet final, record the current position and how changes will be communicated.
It is also sensible to identify who will handle sponsorship matters while the employee is away. Maternity leave can last long enough to overlap with an immigration application, a change in management or a different person taking responsibility for payroll.
Statutory pay is not automatically prohibited by a public-funds condition
Skilled Workers often have a condition restricting access to public funds. That can cause unnecessary concern about receiving statutory payments during leave.
The Home Office’s public-funds guidance confirms that Statutory Sick Pay and statutory parental payments, including Statutory Maternity Pay, are not treated as public funds for immigration purposes. Eligibility for the particular payment must still be established.
The relevant questions should be kept distinct. Does the employee qualify for the payment? Is the absence permitted within the sponsorship framework? Does the employer need to make a report?
An answer to one does not replace the others. Payroll can correctly calculate a statutory payment while the sponsorship team still needs information about the absence.
Long-term sick leave does not automatically end sponsorship
Sick leave is a recognised exception to the ordinary unpaid or reduced-pay absence restriction.
An employee may move from contractual sick pay to statutory payments and eventually to no pay. That progression does not, by itself, establish that sponsorship must end.
The employer should maintain a clear record of the sickness absence and follow its usual procedures. Government guidance explains the use of fit notes and self-certification when recording sickness.
The immigration review should connect those records with the employment and payroll position. When did the absence begin? What payments have been made? Is the employee still employed? What is known about the anticipated return?
A documented sickness absence is also different from unexplained non-attendance. If the employer does not know why someone is absent, it should make reasonable enquiries and establish the facts rather than assume a particular leave category.
Our view is that accurate classification protects both sides. It helps the employer comply with its duties and avoids treating a legitimate illness as an unexplained departure from sponsored work.
A phased return has its own conditions
Returning after illness may involve temporarily reduced hours and a corresponding reduction in pay.
The Skilled Worker sponsor guidance permits a temporary reduction for individual health reasons, including a phased return, where it is supported by an occupational health assessment. The reduced pay must not bring the hourly rate below an applicable hourly-rate requirement from the worker’s most recent grant of permission.
That is a specific provision. An informal agreement between the employee and their manager should not be assumed to satisfy it.
The written plan should explain the working pattern, payment arrangements, intended duration and review dates. Where the employee’s recovery changes the timetable, update the assessment and records.
The occupational health requirement relates to this particular concession. It does not mean that every ordinary episode of sickness requires an occupational health assessment.
A permanent move to fewer hours also needs separate analysis. Our guide to sponsored worker salary reductions explains the wider assessment where the contractual pay or working pattern changes.
How is the four-week unpaid-leave limit calculated?
For Skilled Workers, the sponsor guidance uses the calendar year, from 1 January to 31 December. Relevant absences are cumulative, so separate periods can combine to exceed the limit.
Four weeks is calculated using the worker’s normal working pattern. Someone normally working five days a week has a four-week equivalent of 20 working days. For someone normally working three days a week, the equivalent is 12 working days.
Consider a hypothetical employee who normally works five days a week and takes five unpaid working days in February, ten in June and six in October. That produces 21 working days of unpaid absence. If none of those periods qualifies for an exception, the ordinary four-week threshold has been exceeded.
The record should identify qualifying exceptions separately. Statutory maternity leave should not simply be added to ordinary unpaid holiday and treated as though both have the same effect.
It is useful to review the accumulated position when a new request is made. Discovering the total after the employee has already left gives the employer and worker fewer practical options.
Ordinary unpaid leave requires a different assessment
An extended family visit, personal travel, study break or sabbatical may be understandable without falling within a specified exception.
Where a non-exempt absence exceeds four weeks, the sponsor normally needs to stop sponsorship. If it believes compelling reasons justify continuing, it must report the absence and reasons for UKVI to consider. UKVI may cancel permission if it does not accept the explanation.
Employer approval is therefore not enough to establish that a lengthy unpaid arrangement is compatible with sponsorship.
The distinction is particularly important after statutory family leave. Additional time away should be assessed according to the category it actually falls within. It should not automatically inherit the treatment of the earlier period.
Where compelling circumstances are being relied on, the explanation should be specific. It should address why the absence is needed, its expected duration, the continuing employment and the evidence supporting those facts.
A general statement that the business values the employee provides little explanation of the absence itself. The assessment should be made before committing to a timetable that depends on UKVI accepting the circumstances.
Permitted leave can still require a Home Office report
An exception allowing sponsorship to continue does not remove the reporting obligation.
The sponsor must report absence without pay or on reduced pay exceeding four weeks in total during the relevant calendar year. Changes to a sponsored worker’s circumstances generally need reporting within ten working days of the relevant event, unless a different deadline applies.
The report should describe the position accurately. In a permitted maternity or sickness case, it should explain the absence and payment arrangements, rather than suggest that the worker has permanently accepted a lower contractual salary.
The guidance does not require every shorter unpaid or reduced-pay absence to be reported under the four-week rule. Those periods still need monitoring. A separate change to contractual salary may have its own reporting requirements.
For employers, the practical weakness is often communication between teams. Payroll knows that pay has changed. The manager knows why the employee is away. The person responsible for sponsorship needs both pieces of information.
Agree who will identify the reporting point and who will submit the report. Responsibility should remain clear if an absence becomes longer than originally expected.
Unauthorised absence has a separate reporting trigger
A worker absent without permission for more than ten consecutive working days must be reported, even if the sponsor intends to continue sponsoring them.
The report must be made no later than ten working days after the tenth day of absence. It should cover the relevant dates, attempts to contact the worker where appropriate, salary deductions and whether sponsorship will continue.
This concerns authorisation rather than simply the amount paid.
An employee could therefore trigger an unauthorised-absence issue before reaching the four-week unpaid-absence threshold. Conversely, a long period of properly authorised maternity leave is not unauthorised absence merely because the employee has not attended work.
Where an employee becomes unexpectedly unwell, communication is especially important. The employer should establish the situation and record it accurately. If later information changes the understanding of an earlier absence, that should be addressed honestly in the records and any necessary reporting.
What records should the sponsor keep?
Appendix D requires sponsors to retain records of sponsored-worker absences. It also requires relevant employment and payment evidence.
A useful record should allow someone unfamiliar with the case to understand why the employee was absent and why payroll differs from the normal sponsored salary.
| Record | What it should clarify |
|---|---|
| Leave request or absence notification | The reason for the absence and when the employer became aware |
| Leave classification and approval | Whether the absence is authorised and which category applies |
| Start, review and return dates | The actual period away and any changes to the original plan |
| Normal working pattern | How the relevant working-day calculation was made |
| Payroll records | When normal pay, reduced pay or no pay applied |
| Supporting evidence | The basis for the leave or any specific concession relied on |
| Sponsor reports and acknowledgements | What was reported, when and by whom |
| Return arrangements | Any changes to hours, duties or salary |
The record does not need to become a lengthy narrative for every short absence. It needs to be proportionate and intelligible.
For a longer or unusual absence, a concise explanation connecting the documents can be valuable. It reduces the risk of somebody later treating a legitimate payroll difference as an unexplained underpayment.
Leave does not extend the worker’s visa
Maternity leave or sickness absence does not pause the expiry date of immigration permission.
A worker who needs further permission must address the application before their current visa expires. An extension remains subject to the applicable requirements. Dependants also have their own permission and deadlines; their visas do not automatically extend with the main worker’s application.
Preparation should begin early enough to explain the leave and payment position properly. The employer’s sponsorship information, payroll evidence and account of the continuing role should be consistent.
Do not assume that an upcoming return to work means the application can wait. Equally, reduced pay during recognised leave should be explained rather than presented without context.
For the employee, a simple timeline can help: the leave period, expected return, visa expiry and intended application date. For the employer, it identifies when sponsorship preparation will be needed while the worker is away.
Settlement and overseas travel need separate checks
The Skilled Worker settlement rules expressly address certain permitted absences.
Where an applicant is currently absent for a reason covered by paragraph SUI 36.1, or returned from such an absence within the month before applying, the salary assessment uses the salary on return to work as confirmed by the sponsor.
The caseworker guidance also recognises that reduced or nil pay can affect PAYE records. It directs attention to the absence dates and, where necessary, earlier pay records.
This makes the employer’s explanation important. It should identify the relevant leave and the genuine return salary. The provision does not remove the other settlement requirements.
Absence from employment should also be distinguished from absence from the UK. Taking maternity leave while remaining in Britain is different from spending that period overseas. Employer-approved leave abroad must still be considered under the applicable continuous-residence rules and exceptions.
Our indefinite leave to remain guidance explains the wider settlement assessment. A sponsor’s confirmation that leave is permitted should not be treated as a complete assessment of the worker’s settlement position.
Plan the absence and the return together
A good absence plan should explain what happens while the employee is away and what needs checking before they return.
The return may involve the same job and salary, a temporary adjustment supported by medical evidence, or a proposed permanent change. Those situations should be identified before payroll implements new arrangements.
If employment ends during the absence, that is a separate sponsorship event. Permission to continue sponsorship during recognised leave does not preserve the same position after the sponsored employment has ended.
The practical aim is to give the employee clear information while ensuring that the employer’s records, payments and Home Office reports describe the same arrangement.
Knightsbridge can help assess whether proposed leave falls within a recognised exception, what reporting is required and whether changes to pay or working arrangements need further immigration action. Our Business Sponsor Licence service provides the wider context for employer sponsorship responsibilities.
If you are planning an extended absence, managing reduced pay or reviewing a situation that has already begun, provide the leave dates, reason, normal working pattern and payment arrangements so the relevant position can be assessed.
