Some important changes to Employment Law are due in April –  HR Company Rob Bryan Associates tell us more.

1. New minimum wage rates

The National Living Wage (NLW) and National Minimum Wage (NMW) are set to rise in April. 
The new rates will be: 

• NLW (25+) – £8.21 per hour 
• NMW for 21-24-year-olds – £7.70 per hour 
• NMW for 18-20-year-olds – £6.15 per hour 
• NMW for 16-17-year-olds – £4.35 per hour 
• NMW apprentice rate – £3.90 per hour 

Employers with staff earning the NLW or NMW, or close to it should check what adjustments need to be made ready for April.  
 

2. Increases in statutory sick pay, maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental pay

• Statutory sick pay will rise to £94.25 per week
• Statutory maternity, paternity, adoption, and shared parental payments will rise to £148.68 per week
• Accommodation offset will rise to £7.55 per day

3. New statutory compensation rates

• the limit on the daily amount of statutory guarantee pay will increase from £28 to £29
• the limit on the amount of the unfair dismissal compensatory award will rise from £83,682 to £86,444 (there is an additional cap of one year’s gross salary on the compensatory award)
• the minimum basic award for certain unfair dismissals will go up from £6,203 to £6,408.
• The main change is that the amount of a “week’s pay” for calculating statutory redundancy pay and certain unfair dismissal awards is to go up from £508 to £525 from 6 April 2019. The maximum unfair dismissal compensatory award will increase from £83,682 to £86,444 and the limit on the daily amount of statutory guarantee pay will rise from £28 to £29.

4. Workplace Pension Auto-enrolment increases

• The minimum contribution will now be a total of 8%. The employer minimum contribution will be 3%.

5.  Payslips

• Changes to the way employers issue payslips will also come into force on 6th April 2019 as from this date onwards the legal right to a payslip will be extended to include those who are recognised as ‘workers’. 
• Employers are required to:
• provide payslips to all workers
• show hours on payslips where the pay varies by the amount of time worked
• Employers should work with their payroll departments to ensure that correct procedures are in place by April.