Round up of employment law changes

There are a number of important employment law changes taking place this year of which businesses should be aware. I’ve set out some changes that are happening imminently below.

All public sector organisations with over 250 or more employees as at 31 March 2018 and private sector organisations as at 5 April 2018 have until 30 March 2019 and 4 April 2019 respectively to comply with the Gender Pay Gap Regulations and publish the required report.

Increases to statutory payments:

On 1 April 2019

The national minimum and living wage rates increase as follows:

• 25 and over from £7.83 to £8.21
• 21 to 24 year olds from £7.38 to £7.70
• 18 to 20 year olds from £5.90 to £6.15
• Under 18 from £4.20 to £4.35
• Apprentice rate (under 19 year olds or in the first year of apprenticeship) from £3.70 to £3.90
• The daily accommodation offset increase from £7.00 to £7.55

On 6 April 2019

• Statutory sick pay will increase from £92.05 to £94.25 per week
• The limit on a week’s pay (used to calculate, for example, statutory redundancy pay) increases from £508 to £525
• The minimum auto-enrolment pension contributions increase for employers from 2% to 3% and employees from 3% to 5%

On 7 April 2019

• Statutory maternity pay, paternity pay, shared parental pay and adoption pay increases from £145.18 to £148.68 per week (or 90% of the employee’s normal weekly earnings if this is lower) 

Currently only employees are entitled to an itemised payslip. New legislation in force from 6 April 2019 will require all employers to provide all workers with an itemised payslip. In addition, employers must include the number of hours on payslips for workers and employees who are paid by the hour. These changes only apply to salary and wages for periods commencing on or after 6 April 2019.

Paid time off for parental bereavement leave is expected to be introduced in April 2020 along with the introduction of a requirement to give new employees minimum contractual information (often called a section 1 statement) no later than the first day of their employment. The information that must be given is also being extended. 

Finally, new legislation is expected requiring some private sector employers to account for tax and national insurance through PAYE for people engaged through personal service companies (sometimes called IR35 arrangements).  We will be running events on this subject in autumn of this year, look out for details on our website if this topic affects you.

For a printable version of the employment law changes and statutory redundancy pay calculator, click here.