ILR Employer letter issues

Hi everyone,

I'm an Australian mental health social worker who has resided in the UK for 5 years on a tier 2 skilled migrant visa.

I've just completed my application for ILR and realised my employer letter has the incorrect occupation and SOC. For some reason HR have said I'm employed as a psychologist and have used the SOC for psychology. My actually job title is mental health clinician, I've no idea why HR are saying I'm a psychologist. I'm trying to follow up with HR who are refusing to review the letter or change it. It seems that due to my band (8A) payroll have enrolled me as a psychologist as it's the same pay scale.

I feel totally stuck as HR have been generally unhelpful, even initially refusing to issue an employer letter with an SOC under the policy they "do not provide bespoke letters".

The trust is very large and has lots of employees that are sponsored via tier 2. I am unclear as to whether I am being overly cautious, or my employer is being very lazy and unhelpful, potentially illegal?

I contacted an immigration solicitor for advice but they said they cannot advise me as I had completed the application myself. My biometrics appointment is this Saturday so I've 4 days to try and remedy the situation.

Any guidance is welcome.

The healthcare occupation codes (including social work) are a separate group. So if you are working in that capacity, a relevant or close enough SOC will have to be assigned.

You can see these codes and salary bands here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... tion-codes

I suspect they have assigned SOC 2226 ? That should be ok. Just need to ensure you are being paid the appropriate salary for ILR.

Hi Zimba,

You're correct, they've assigned SOC 2226 (other psychologists) and listed my job title as psychologist.

In my CoS for this post the SOC was previously 2219 (health professionals not elsewhere classified). The job description itself fits the role of a psychologist as it is assessments and treatment of mental health issues. Although it can actually be done by a range of allied health professionals with the appropriate training and experience (hence why I obtained the role).

I am receiving the appropriate salary, this is quite a senior position and it is appropriately remunerated which HR have noted in the letter they have supplied.

Does this sound ok? I'm just so anxious Home Office will look at my application and ask why my prior employer employed me as a social worker whilst current employer employs me as a psychologist. Or do they not go over prior employment details?

Again, any insight is much appreciated.

Yes, that is all ok. The SOC 2219 no longer exists. This is because the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes assigned to each role have been simply updated from the 2010 codes to the 2020 codes, so your old SOC and the new 2020 SOC assigned both effectively refer to the same role and since 4 April, the new SOC is being used. Do not worry at all about this and go ahead with your application.