The annual National Living Wage and Minimum Wage changes are due to come into effect from 1st April 2022 – you can check the relevant gov.uk website for further details and amounts.
Statutory Sick Pay will increase to £99.35 per week from 6th April 2022.
Statutory family related pay (for things like maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental and bereavement leave) will increase to £156.66 per week from 3rd April 2022.
Statutory redundancy pay will also increase from 6th April 2022. “Weekly pay”, which is used to calculate the statutory redundancy payment is currently capped at £544 per week. The new cap will be confirmed shortly so watch this space carefully!
Since the end of March 2020, employers have been able to carry out right-to-work checks using video technology and scanned documentation but those temporary measures are due to end on 5th April 2022. We will confirm exact details when they are announced in due course but it is likely that right-to-work checks will need to be carried out in person again.
Organisations with 250 or more employees are required to publish their gender pay gap report by 4th April 2022 (or 30th March 2022 for public sector employers).
The government is also proposing making further changes this year to various things like flexible working, carer’s leave, neonatal leave, staff tips, extended redundancy protection, continuity of service rules, sexual harassment, casual workers, modern slavery and confidentiality agreements. Once we know more about the exact changes proposed, we will post further blogs and news updates here.
The Supreme Court is also expected to issue its judgment this year in the case of Harpur Trust v Brazel and Unison which should confirm how holiday pay for “part year” workers should be calculated. We are regularly helping clients with issues concerning the calculation of holiday pay and this case should provide further welcome clarification in an increasingly difficult and confusing area of employment law.