There are some important changes to employment law coming into force in April 2019, including new rules on itemised payslips and increases to national minimum wage rates and minimum auto-enrolment pension contributions. We set out the key changes for employers to be aware of below.
Payslips
From 6 April 2019, all workers will have the right to be provided with an itemised pay statement and be able to enforce that right in an employment tribunal. In addition, those who work varied hours and whose pay varies as a consequence of the time worked must be given itemised payslips, showing either:
- the total number of hours worked, or
- itemised figures for the different types of work done and/or the different rates of pay.
Increase in National Minimum Wage rates
The National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage rates increased on 1 April 2019 to:
- Workers aged 25 and over: £8.21 (National Living Wage)
- Workers aged 21-24: £7.70
- Workers aged 18-20: £6.15
- Workers aged 16-17: £4.35
- Apprentices: £3.90.
Increases to statutory redundancy payments and unfair dismissal awards
From 6 April 2019 new increased compensation limits for employment tribunal awards will come into force. The changes are as follows (with the previous year's amounts in brackets):
- the maximum amount of a week's pay (used for calculating a redundancy payment or for various awards including the unfair dismissal basic award): £525 (increased from £508)
- the maximum amount of a basic award for unfair dismissal and a statutory redundancy payment: £15,240 (increased from £14,670)
- the maximum amount of an unfair dismissal compensatory award: £86,444 (increased from £83,682)
- the maximum financial penalty for aggravated breach of a worker's employment rights: £20,000 (increased from £5,000).
Increases to statutory sick pay and statutory payments for family-related leave
The weekly rate of statutory sick pay will increase to £94.25 from 6 April 2019.
The weekly rates of statutory maternity pay, statutory paternity pay, statutory adoption pay and statutory shared parental pay will each increase to £148.68 from 7 April 2019.
The weekly rate of maternity allowance will increase to £148.68 from 8 April 2019.
Auto-enrolment contributions
From April 2019, minimum auto-enrolment pension contributions increase for both employers and jobholders to 3% and 5% (increased from 2% and 3%) respectively of the jobholder's qualifying earnings.
Gender pay gap reporting
Organisations with 250 or more employees must publish their gender pay gap figures again on 4 April 2019 (30 March 2019 for public sector employers).
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.