Government commissions review of spouse minimum income requirement

The government has just commissioned a review of the spouse minimum income requirement by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC). This was set at £18,600 in 2012, increased to £29,000 in April 2024 and was scheduled by the last government to rise to £34,500 then eventually £38,700. By comparison, the minimum wage comes out at about £22-23,000 per annum depending on hours, I think.

MAC always takes its terms of a review very seriously and the terms of this review are extremely wide. There’s a bit of a steer on “maintain the economic wellbeing of the UK whilst respecting family life” and then a bit on “any other related considerations that you believe are relevant”. The time frame is nine months. That’s a long time but it’s pleasing the new government has acted quickly and it hopefully gives the already rather overloaded MAC enough time to conduct the review properly and take evidence on it.