Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of businesses raising offered salaries for non-Europeans workers to assist the approval of work visas.

Salaries paid by employers are a matter for the employers in question. It is a requirement, for all Tier 2 (General) jobs, that a migrant must be paid the appropriate salary for the occupation in question. This requirement helps to ensure fair pay for migrant workers and prevents Tier 2 being used to undercut resident workers.

The minimum salary for Tier 2 is £30,000 or £20,800 for new entrants, or the appropriate rate for the job, whichever is the higher. The minimum salary levels are based on the salary distribution for all positions in the UK. For experienced workers, this is set at the 25th percentile, the rate for new entrants be set at the 10th percentile Tier 2 salaries have remained at their current levels since April 2017.