Skilled Worker maternity and sick leave: reduced pay, sponsor reporting and settlement

01 · The starting rule

More than 4 weeks on reduced or nil pay normally requires sponsorship to stop.

The general sponsor rule is that a worker who is absent from sponsored employment without pay, or on reduced pay, for more than 4 weeks in total in a calendar year must normally cease to be sponsored. The limit applies to one continuous absence and to separate absences which cumulatively exceed 4 weeks.

The calculation follows the worker's normal working pattern. For a person who ordinarily works 5 days each week, 4 weeks is 20 working days; for a 3-day pattern it is 12 working days. The rule is therefore not a simple count of calendar days away from the workplace.

This starting point is important because it distinguishes protected absence from ordinary unpaid leave. A sabbatical, informal career break or other voluntary absence is not converted into a permissible immigration absence merely because the employer has authorised it under the employment contract.

02 · The exception

Family leave and sick leave are expressly protected categories.

Part Suitability and the sponsor guidance identify statutory maternity, paternity, parental, shared parental, adoption and neonatal care leave as permissible absences. Sick leave is also included. Other specified categories cover agreed humanitarian or environmental crisis work, legally organised industrial action, jury service and attendance at court as a witness.

A sponsor does not have to stop sponsoring merely because one of those absences exceeds 4 weeks or produces reduced or nil pay. The protection follows the legal reason for absence. It does not give a general discretion to describe any compassionate or family-related period away from work as maternity, parental or sick leave.

The underlying employment classification should therefore be settled before the immigration report is made. Leave approval, statutory entitlement, medical or occupational evidence where appropriate, dates and payroll treatment should support the description used on the sponsor record.

03 · Salary

Statutory or nil pay during qualifying leave is not an ordinary salary reduction.

The Skilled Worker guidance permits a temporary salary reduction where it coincides with a protected absence. It expressly contemplates a worker receiving reduced salary or statutory payments only during parental or sick leave. The exception is also reflected in Part Suitability, which protects a salary reduction coinciding with an absence permitted under SUI 36.1.

The reason and timing must remain connected. A permanent contractual reduction, a lower-paid role on return or a salary change introduced for a separate commercial reason requires its own Skilled Worker analysis. It may be permissible under the same salary option, require a new Certificate of Sponsorship and application, or require sponsorship to end.

The sponsor should record the salary before leave, statutory or contractual pay during each phase, any nil-pay period and the salary expected on return. That chronology allows the exception to be distinguished from an unexplained payroll shortfall or prohibited reduction.

04 · Payroll control

The pay-period rules make correct classification more important, not less.

Since 8 April 2026, Skilled Worker salary compliance includes tests applied to the actual pay period and to 3-month, 12-week or, for qualifying irregular patterns, 17-week periods. Those provisions are intended to identify underpayment hidden by an annual salary figure.

They do not displace the separate rules for a temporary reduction during protected leave. A payroll period containing statutory maternity pay, statutory sick pay or nil pay should not be analysed as if the worker had performed their ordinary hours for an unlawfully reduced salary. The cause of the reduced pay, hours actually worked, leave dates and sponsor notification must first be established.

That distinction should be visible in payroll coding and the immigration file. If the Home Office compares PAYE data with the Certificate of Sponsorship, the sponsor should be able to explain why the lower figure arose and identify the published exception on which continued sponsorship depended.

05 · Reporting

Permitted absence still carries a reporting obligation.

A change to a sponsored worker's circumstances must ordinarily be reported within 10 working days. The sponsor guidance expressly requires the sponsor to report an absence without pay or on reduced pay once it exceeds 4 weeks, including the reason, duration and salary change. It also requires salary reductions from the amount stated on the Certificate of Sponsorship to be notified.

The SMS report should state the legal category of leave, start date, expected duration, temporary pay position and intention to continue sponsorship. Where dates or pay later change materially, the sponsor should consider whether the record requires a further update rather than leaving the original report to become inaccurate.

The report is not a request for UKVI to grant maternity or sick leave. It is the sponsor's regulatory record explaining why a payroll reduction does not signify that the sponsored employment has ended or moved outside the permitted framework.

06 · Return to work

A phased return is a separate decision from the leave itself.

The route-specific guidance permits a reduction coinciding with a temporary reduction in hours, or a phased return to work, for individual health reasons where it is supported by an occupational health assessment and does not take the hourly rate below any hourly requirement that applied when permission was last granted.

A return from maternity or parental leave on permanently reduced hours is different. Part-time Skilled Worker salary is tested by actual gross annual earnings for the general threshold, while the going rate is pro-rated to the stated weekly hours. A contractual move from full-time to part-time work can therefore require a fresh salary and reporting analysis even though the preceding leave was protected.

The sponsor should avoid treating the entire return period as an extension of the original absence. The date the worker resumes duties, revised hours, salary, occupational evidence and whether the arrangement is temporary or permanent should be recorded separately.

07 · Settlement

Reduced pay during qualifying leave does not automatically prevent settlement.

Appendix Skilled Worker provides that where a settlement applicant is currently absent for a reason listed in SUI 36.1, or returned from such an absence within the month before applying, the salary assessment is based on the salary on return to work as stated by the sponsor.

The caseworker guidance recognises that current PAYE information may show reduced or nil pay. It instructs decision makers to obtain the dates of absence and, where necessary, examine earlier PAYE records. The sponsor's confirmation should therefore address both the protected absence and the salary that will apply on return.

Leave from employment and absence from the United Kingdom are separate questions. Maternity, parental or sick leave does not itself break sponsored employment, but any travel outside the UK must still be tested under Appendix Continuous Residence for settlement purposes.

This is not a waiver of the other settlement requirements. The applicant must still satisfy the qualifying period, continuous residence, current sponsorship, salary on return, knowledge of language and life and suitability requirements applying at the date of application. Timing should be considered early where leave, return and permission expiry are close together.

08 · Evidence

One chronology should connect employment law, payroll and immigration compliance.

A reliable record begins with the leave request or medical absence and ends with return to work or another lawful employment decision. It should identify the approved category, normal working pattern, dates, contractual and statutory pay, payroll codes, SMS reports and any extension or settlement timetable.

The immigration file should not attempt to determine employment entitlements in isolation. HR or employment advisers may need to settle the statutory and contractual position, while the sponsor team determines how that established position affects sponsorship and reporting.

Responsibility should remain clear during a long absence. HR may approve leave, payroll may change pay and a Level 1 User may file the report, but the Authorising Officer must be satisfied that those steps form one accurate account capable of withstanding an HMRC comparison or compliance visit.

Practical questions.