- The previous government proposed that the financial requirement be equivalent to the SW salary threshold (£38,700) – MAC does not recommend the approach based on the SW salary threshold as it is unrelated to the Family route and is most likely to conflict with international laws (Article 8).
- A salary requirement between £24,000 and £28,000 is appropriate if the government want to use a living-standards approach rather than economic wellbeing.
- Varying the threshold by region would create problems. However, the government could consider setting the threshold at the UK excluding London value. This would make it easier to meet in London, but would be fairer to the residents of the rest of the UK.
- Do not recommend an additional value for families with child dependants.
- Recommend that it should be possible to combine cash savings with all earnings from employment and self-employment.
- Both salaried and non-salaried employment should be calculated in the same way.
- Recommend that Home Office reviews the rules to provide flexibility for sponsors or applicants to count employment income where it can be convincingly evidenced that the person will remain in their job and work remotely and will be taxable in the UK.
- DWP to ensure the list of eligible benefits for adequate maintenance is appropriate – MAC believe that someone receiving Carer’s Allowance could choose to stop working to lower their income below the level needed to claim Carer’s Allowance and therefore be eligible for the adequate maintenance test.
