Time to get up to date with changes in employment law!
Yes, each year the UK Government makes amendments to employment law which can be easy to miss. Hafton is committed to keeping you compliant with current employment law, so please get in touch if you have any questions. Here are some of the highlights of changes in 2016:-
Spring 2016
The new National Living Wage of £7.20 per hour applies to workers age 25 and over – from 1 April.
The National Minimum Wage amendment regulations also double the financial penalties if employers are found to have paid less than the minimum – from 1 April.
Statutory rates of maternity allowance and statutory maternity pay (SMP), statutory paternity pay (SPP), statutory adoption pay (SAP) and statutory sick pay (SPP) are usually increased in April each year, but remain unchanged this year.
The limit on a week’s pay (for calculating redundancy and unfair dismissal awards) increases to £479 – from 6 April.
Autumn 2016
Mandatory gender pay gap reporting is expected to be introduced in October affecting private and third sector employers with 250 or more staff in Great Britain. The first reports must be published by end of April 2018 and then annually after that date. Public sector organisations will be included at some time yet to be decided.
National Minimum Wage rates – will increase on 1 October: the standard adult rate for workers aged 21 and over to £6.95, the development rate for those aged 18-20 to £5.55, the young workers rate for those aged 16-17 to £4.00, and the apprentice rate to £3.40.
The link below will take you to a useful factsheet from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. It gives a summary of the full changes and in which month you can expect these to happen. Happy reading.