Next month, you may need to adjust your payroll around the upcoming statutory hikes.
Read on to discover the rates you need to know…
The new compensation limits
Be aware that tribunal awards for dismissals and redundancies will increase from 6th April:
- The maximum week's statutory redundancy pay: from £544 to £571
- The maximum statutory guarantee pay: from £30 to £31
- The maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal: from £89,493 to £93,878
Consequently, the maximum basic award for unfair dismissal and the maximum statutory redundancy pay has increased to £17,130.
The maximum unfair dismissal award will be £111,008 including both the basic and compensatory awards. The statutory maximum amount for the compensatory unfair dismissal will now be capped at £93,878 after increasing from £89,493.
The new minimum wage rates
After April 1st, you’ll need to pay your staff a minimum of:
- 23+ year olds = £9.50
- 21-22 year olds = £9.18
- 18-20 year olds = £6.83
- 16-17 year-olds = £4.81
- Apprentices = £4.81
So if you pay your staff on the 15th each month, you’d need to start paying their new rate from this date onwards.
Even if you already pay above these rates, keep an eye on any overtime. If staff work longer than normal, their average hourly pay could fall below the new legal minimum.
Plus, consider whether you deduct any costs – like uniform costs – from employee wages. This could also mean you accidentally slip below the minimum requirement.
How about financial support for families?
Along with minimum wage hikes, you also need to plan for increases in family support:
- Maternity and paternity pay
- Adoption
- Shared parental leave
- Parental bereavement pay
The rate for all these payments will jump from £151.97 per week to £156.66 per week.
What’s changing with sick pay?
Statutory sick pay will also increase from £96.35 per week to £99.35 per week.
However, the lower earnings limit which employees must meet to be eligible for these payments is increasing from £120 to £123 per week.
Anything else?
Along with these statutory increases, you also need to consider the gender pay gap report deadline.
If you have 250 or more employees, you need to publish the pay gap between men and women in your workforce. The deadlines are:
- 30 March 2022 – for most public authority employers
- 4 April 2022 – for private, voluntary and all other public authority employers
According to GOV.UK, you need to report the:
- Percentage of men and women in each hourly pay quarter
- Average hourly gender pay gap
- Percentage of men and women who received bonus pay
- Average gender bonus pay gap
- Person in your organisation who is responsible for the data
- Link to your written statement if your organisation is reporting as a private, voluntary or other public authority employer
Need a hand adjusting staff contracts?
With the upcoming new rules, you may need to update employee contracts.
So whether you’re increasing staff pay or adjusting parental benefits, contact your Peninsula advisers for help crafting watertight contacts. They’ll update staff entitlements to suit your business’s needs – and in line with UK employment law.
And if you’re not yet a Peninsula client, discover expert contracts and documentation as part of unlimited HR support.
