I have started a new job, (September just gone) I am paid hourly and my flat 40 hours a week earns me just over 18700 a year. My question is, if I happen to have a day off sick and it's unpaid, I guess this will mean that I'll fall below the threshold. Is this the case? I've read a lot online but I really have confused myself beyond belief.
If you are paid by the hour, you will be in 'non-salaried employment' and so the annual income that will be considered for the visa will be calculated as follows:
- they will add up all your gross payslip amounts (before tax) from the last 6 months, divide that by 6 and multiply by 12 to give an average annual salary
- if the total is at least £18,600, then you will meet the requirement.
- if the total is less than £18,600, you will not meet the requirement
- If you are paid just over £18,700 per year based on a 40-hour week, then that works out at about £9 per hour (is that correct?)... so you could afford to lose just over £100 worth of work over the 6 months, which equates to about 11 hours... which is more than 1 day of work.
So, it would appear that you could afford to have 1 day of unpaid work during the 6 months and still meet the requirement.
However, if you are able to work any extra hours to make up the time taken unpaid, then you would be fine, because they would be counted towards your average income over the 6 months.
For the calculation and more information see page 20 onwards of the Financial Requirement document:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/636618/Appendix_FM_1_7_Financial_Requirement_Final.pdf
