Social worker visa: the band rate and the right visa
Social workers (SOC 2461) are open to recruitment from abroad. The threshold is the Agenda for Change band of the post, £37,338 at Band 6 in England, with a £25,000 floor.
Social worker salary check: choose the band
Minimum salary for this job
£25,000
Your salary of £39,000 meets it, with £14,000 to spare.
| Points option K | £25,000 floor |
| Going rate (full time) | £24,071 |
| Going rate per hour | £12.34 |
| Your pay per hour | £20 |
| Visa fee, up to 3 years (outside the UK) | £819 |
| Health surcharge, 3 years | none if Health and Care visa |
Health or education occupation: going rate from the national pay scale (Table 3).
Calculated in your browser: nothing you type is sent anywhere. Not legal advice; not affiliated with the Home Office.
Published by Radif Partners · How we calculate · Home Office fees of 8 October 2026, rules checked 13 October 2026
Social workers keep a door that care workers lost. Their code, 2461, is listed in Table 3 of Appendix Skilled Occupations with the health and education jobs, which means two things: it is higher skilled and open to new applicants from abroad, and its going rate is not a single figure but the NHS Agenda for Change band the post corresponds to, whether the employer is a hospital, a council or a charity. At Band 6 that is £37,338 in England, £39,912 in Scotland, £37,898 in Wales and £35,392 in Northern Ireland; at Band 7, £46,148 in England. The floor is £25,000, not the general £41,700. Care workers and senior care workers (6135 and 6136), by contrast, can no longer be recruited from abroad. Whether a social worker uses the cheaper Health and Care Worker visa depends on the job and employer; otherwise the standard Skilled Worker visa applies.
Band rates by nation
| Band | England | Scotland | Wales | Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Band 5 | £29,970 | £31,892 | £30,420 | £28,407 |
| Band 6 | £37,338 | £39,912 | £37,898 | £35,392 |
| Band 7 | £46,148 | £48,788 | £46,840 | £43,742 |
| Band 8a | £53,755 | £60,126 | £54,550 | £50,952 |
An employer outside the NHS may use its own pay scale; the post must still be matched to an Agenda for Change band, and the salary must reach that band's rate for the hours worked. For a qualified social worker post in an English council graded at the equivalent of Band 6, an offer of £38,000 clears £37,338; graded at Band 7, it falls £8,148 short. The checker above does the comparison once you choose the band and the nation.
Part-time posts and the floor
Social work posts are often offered part time. The band rate is then pro-rated to the hours on the certificate, while the £25,000 floor stays fixed: at 22.5 hours a week in England, Band 5 and Band 6 posts both fall to the floor, £25,000, while a Band 7 post of 30 hours needs £36,918.40. Only guaranteed basic pay counts, so a car allowance or out-of-hours duty payments do not help to reach it.
Social work, care work and care management
| Code | Table | From abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 6135 Care workers and home carers | Table 1a | closed since 22 July 2025 |
| 6136 Senior care workers | Table 1a | closed since 22 July 2025 |
| 1232 Residential, day and domiciliary care managers and proprietors | Table 1a | Immigration Salary List, until 31 December 2026 |
| 2461 Social workers | Table 3 | open, band rate |
The examples listed under 2461 (independent review officer (social worker), mental health social worker, senior practitioner (local government: social services) and social worker) describe qualified practitioners. Support work in a care home or at home belongs to 6135 or 6136, which can only be sponsored for people already in the UK switching after three months with the sponsor, until 22 July 2028. Residential and domiciliary care managers (1232) are on the Immigration Salary List until 31 December 2026. An employer cannot code a care job as social work to get around the closure: the caseworker can refuse a less appropriate code.
Which visa, and what it costs
The Health and Care Worker visa is for qualified health and adult social care professionals working for the NHS, an NHS supplier or in adult social care. For a social worker and a family of three on a three-year visa from abroad, the gap is large: £972 on the Health and Care Worker visa against £10,995 on the standard Skilled Worker visa, mostly because the first carries no health surcharge. Ask the employer which of the two the role allows before you pay. English at level B2 and, for applications from abroad, criminal record certificates from the countries you lived in are required, as for other social services jobs. The Health and Care Worker page and the care worker page cover the neighbouring cases.