Your local law firm, John Fowlers Solicitors, explain exactly what you need to know about the recent changes to Employment Law and how it could affect you.
April 2018 marks a great deal of changes happening within the UK Law which directly affect Employment - both for the employer as well as the employee. To make things as straightforward as possible, for both employees and employers, we've summed up how these changes could potentially affect you, and exactly what you need to know.
SALARY
Gender Pay Gap
As of 4th April 2018, employers across the United Kingdom, who have at least 250 employees, will be required to publish information about the differences in pay for men and women in their company, as part of the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017.
Changes to the taxation of termination payments
The Government are making changes to the taxation of termination payments, this includes:
• Eliminating the distinction among contractual and non-contractual Payments In Lieu Of Notice, making them taxable and subject to Class 1 NICs
• The first £30,000 of a termination payment will stay excluded from income tax
• On payments above £30,000, employer NICs will be payable for income tax and employer NICs
Increase in the minimum wage;
The National Living Wage, the minimum rate paid to workers 25 and over, will be increasing by 4.4% from April 1st to £7.83 an hour.
WORKPLACE PENSIONS
Auto-enrolment contributions increase
As from April 6th, the amount of money automatically contributed to your workplace pension will increase from 1% of your salary to 3%, which works out to about £540 for the average worker. The good news is that your employer will also have to double their input – employee contributions are raising from 1% to 2%.
This will increase again in 2019, with the amount employees paying rise to 5% and the employer's contribution raising to 3%.
TRIBUNALS
An increase of tribunal awards
From April, employers who lose a claim at a tribunal will have to pay more compensation as the maximum limits on tribunal awards are updated. The maximum award for an unfair dismissal will be a shocking £98,922.
If you're unsure of how these changes might affect you, or if you need to talk to our expert Employment Lawyers then please get in touch here.