Next month will present many changes within the employment sector. The timeline below will help you keep track of all the important updates requiring attention:
31st March - ‘Fit for work’ assessment scheme to be scrapped
1st April - National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) increase:
- Workers aged 25 and over: £7.83 an hour (National Living Wage)
- Workers aged 21 and over: £7.38 an hour
- Development rate for workers aged 18-20: £5.90 an hour
- Young workers rate for workers aged 16-17: £4.20 an hour
- Apprentice rate: £3.70 an hour
New rates apply from the first day of the pay week following 1st April.
4th April – Deadline for gender pay gap reporting for private sector employers
6th April - Family Friendly Payments and Statutory Sick Pay increase:
- Statutory maternity (SMP), paternity (SPP), adoption (SAP) and shared parental pay (ShPP) will rise from £140.98 to £145.18
- Statutory sick pay (SSP) is due to rise this month from £89.35 to £92.05.
- The lower earnings limit will rise from £113 to £116.
6th April – Increased limits for tribunal awards
- Increase of limit on a week’s pay for calculating redundancy and the unfair dismissal basic award - £508
- The above rise will have an effect on the maximum basic award for statutory redundancy payment and unfair dismissal which will increase to £15,240
- Maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal will increase to £83,682 or a year’s pay, whichever is lower.
- Maximum award for an unfair dismissal (including maximum basic and compensatory award) will increase to £98,922.
6th April - Changes to the taxation of PILON (pay in lieu of notice) payments
- Changes to the way PILONs are taxed and subject to NICs. All notice pay to be treated as earnings and subject to tax and national insurance.
Changes to Employment Allowance claims
Employers will not qualify for the Employment Allowance for one year if they have:
- hired an illegal worker
- been penalised by the Home Office
- exhausted all appeal rights against that penalty.
Aspire can assist you to keep on the right side of the law, help you remain compliant and avoid the threats posed by reputational and financial risk.