Employment in the points proposal
Pages describing how employment scores towards settlement points describe something that does not exist. There is no points-based settlement system in the Immigration Rules. This guide explains the proposal that people are thinking of, what the rules require now, and what records are worth keeping.
- Section
- Costs, English & General
- Reading time
- 8 min
- Last checked
- 22 March 2026
- Source
- The published Immigration Rules and GOV.UK guidance, linked throughout this guide.
- Rowan does not
- Look at your own case, tell you which route to choose, or say what the Home Office will decide. This guide shows the published rules and where to read them.
In short
- There is no points-based settlement system. Nothing on GOV.UK awards points for employment towards settlement.
- The 'earned settlement' model is a proposal. The consultation closed on 12 February 2026 and the government has not published its response.
- The proposal is a time adjustment, not a points score: a default qualifying period of 10 years, moved up or down.
- Today, settlement turns on the qualifying period for your route, absences, knowledge of language and life, and suitability.
- Payslips, P60s, tax records and a log of every absence are worth keeping whatever happens.
No points system governs settlement in the UK. What exists is a consultation, 'A Fairer Pathway to Settlement', which closed on 12 February 2026 and has not yet been answered. It proposes a default qualifying period of 10 years, adjusted up or down by a person's circumstances — a time adjustment, not a points score. This guide separates the proposal from the rules in force, and sets out the employment evidence that settlement actually calls for today.
What the Rules Say Today
Settlement, or indefinite leave to remain, is not scored. The GOV.UK settlement pages set out qualifying routes and periods: usually 5 years of continuous residence on a work route, 5 years on a family route, 5 years on UK Ancestry or as a British National (Overseas), or 10 years on the long residence route. On top of the period, an application has to meet the knowledge of language and life requirement, stay inside the limit on absences from the UK, and pass a suitability assessment. See our settlement guide.
There is no points table, and employment does not earn points. Where employment matters, it matters as a condition of the route: a Skilled Worker settlement application, for instance, requires the sponsored job and the salary to have continued.
The Proposal People Mean
On 29 September 2025 the Home Office announced a contribution-based settlement model, following the 2025 Immigration White Paper. The announcement said the qualifying period would become a minimum of 10 years, double the current period, and that people could earn a reduction by meeting earnings or integration requirements. It also said the plans would be subject to consultation.
That consultation, A Fairer Pathway to Settlement, ran from November 2025 and closed on 12 February 2026. The government has not yet published its response. Until it does, and until a statement of changes puts something into the Immigration Rules, the qualifying periods above are the ones that apply.
It Is Not a Points System
This matters for anyone trying to plan. The proposal is a time adjustment: a default qualifying period which moves up or down according to a person’s circumstances. It does not add up a score against a pass mark. A page that describes “employment points”, a points total, or a threshold to reach is describing a system that has never existed in any published Home Office document about settlement.
What the Announcement Said About Work
The September 2025 announcement listed what would be expected of applicants under the model. In its own terms, they would need to be:
- in work
- making a certain level of National Insurance contributions
- not taking any benefits payments
- learning English to a high standard
- holding a spotless criminal record
- contributing to their community
The announcement did not put figures on the reductions, and said the plans were subject to consultation. Anyone quoting a precise number of years for a precise salary is quoting a consultation option, not a rule. See our guide to the proposed system and the 2026 rule changes for what has actually been made.
One Change That Is Real
One English language change has been made and is waiting to start. Statement of changes HC 1691, laid on 5 March 2026, raises the settlement English requirement from B1 to B2 across a list of appendices — including Skilled Worker, UK Ancestry, Global Talent, Long Residence, Private Life and Settlement Family Life. The explanatory memorandum says it comes into force on 26 March 2027. See our route-by-route guide to B2 English.
Employment Records Worth Keeping
Independently of any reform, these are the documents settlement applications on work routes tend to call for, and they are far easier to collect as you go than to reconstruct after five years:
- Payslips. From every employer, for the whole period
- P60. The annual summary of pay and tax from each employer
- Employment contracts for each role held
- HMRC records. Your personal tax account shows your income and tax history — see our tax guide
- National Insurance record. See gaps in National Insurance contributions
- A letter from your sponsor confirming the role, salary and dates
- A log of every absence from the UK, with dates and reasons. This is the requirement people most often fail on, and no proposal changes that
The full list is in our settlement documents checklist.
If You Are Self-Employed
Self-employment does not itself lead to settlement on a sponsored route, and most work routes require sponsored employment. Where self-employed income is relevant to an application, the evidence is normally self-assessment tax returns, accounts, business bank statements and HMRC correspondence. See our self-employment evidence guide.
Gaps in Employment
Under the rules as they stand, a gap matters if it breaks a condition of the route — for example, a period without a sponsor on the Skilled Worker route. It is not deducted from a score, because there is no score. If you have had a gap, see our guides on maternity and parental leave and redundancy.
Next Steps
Treat any figure you read about earned settlement as a consultation option until the government publishes its response and a statement of changes follows. In the meantime, the requirements that will decide a settlement application are the qualifying period for your route, your absences, the knowledge of language and life requirement, and suitability.
Related guides:
Questions and answers
Is there a points-based system for settlement?
No. Settlement is not scored in points today, and the government's own proposal is not a points system either. The GOV.UK settlement pages set out qualifying periods, usually 5 years of continuous residence on a work route or 10 years on the long residence route, plus the knowledge of language and life requirement, an absence limit and a good character or suitability assessment. Nothing on GOV.UK awards points for employment.
What is 'earned settlement' then?
It is a proposal. The Home Office announced a contribution-based settlement model on 29 September 2025 and consulted on it between November 2025 and 12 February 2026, in a paper called 'A Fairer Pathway to Settlement'. The model would set a default qualifying period of 10 years and adjust it up or down according to a person's circumstances. The consultation has closed and the government has not yet published its response, so none of it is in the Immigration Rules.
Would employment count under the proposal?
The announcement said applicants would be expected to be in work, making a certain level of National Insurance contributions, not taking benefits payments, learning English to a high standard, and holding a spotless criminal record, with a reduction in the qualifying period available for earnings or integration. The detail of how much any of that would count for is what the consultation asked about, and it has not been settled.
What evidence does settlement actually need today?
It depends on the route. A Skilled Worker settlement application needs evidence that the sponsored job and salary continued, so payslips, P60s and a letter from the sponsor. All settlement applications need evidence of the continuous residence period and of absences from the UK. Keeping payslips, P60s, tax records and a record of every trip abroad from the start is useful under the rules as they are, and would remain useful under anything the proposal turns into.
This guide is general information about published immigration rules. It is not advice about an individual application under s.82 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, and Rowan is not regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority. Immigration rules change several times a year. For advice on a particular situation, contact an adviser authorised by the Immigration Advice Authority or an immigration solicitor. Always check GOV.UK for the authoritative current rules.