Key changes to employment law

Outlining the key changes to employment laws for April 2022

In early April of 2022, we saw plenty of changes to the compensation limits and other statutory payments/entitlements for employees.

As an employer, it is important to make sure you’re well-informed of any updates in employment law, so we have summarised some of the major changes that you should expect to see below:

Statutory payments

There are a number of statutory payments that will see an increase in April, including sick pay and the varying forms of parental leave/pay. As of Sunday 3rd April 2022:

• The weekly rate for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) will increase from £96.35 to £99.35.
• While Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) and Adoption Pay (SAP) will remain at 90% of actual pay for the first 6 weeks, the following 33 weeks will see weekly earnings increase from £151.97 to £156.66.
• The weekly rate for Statutory Paternal Pay (SPP) and Bereavement Pay (SPBP) will increase from £151.97 to £156.66, however it is still only available for approximately 1-2 weeks.

Compensation limits

From Wednesday 6th April 2022, the compensation limits for tribunal awards will also be set to increase. These include:

• The limit on daily statutory guarantee payments increased from £30 to £31.
• The one week pay cap for calculating redundancy and unfair dismissal increased from £544 to £571.
• The maximum basic award for unfair dismissal and statutory redundancy rose from £16,320 to £17,130.
• The maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal increased from £89,493 to £93,878.
• The minimum basic award for certain unfair dismissals (e.g., for reasons of trade union memberships, health and safety duties, being an occupational scheme trustee, an employee representative or workforce representative) will be rise from £6,634 to £6,959.

These increases will apply for any compensation and/or payments occurring from Wednesday 6th April 2022 and onwards.

In claims of unfair dismissal, the limits will depend on the date of termination from employment.

Should this fall before Wednesday 6th April 2022, the previous year’s figures will still apply.

Other important employment law updates

The annual update to the National Minimum/Living Wage will also be in force as of Friday 1st April 2022.

This sees an increase in all categories of workers, from employees under the age of 18 to employees aged 23 and over.

This year’s figures have risen as high as 11.9% more than last year’s.

The full outline of these changes are as follows:

• Apprentices and employees under 18 years old are set to receive a revised hourly rate of £4.81.
• Employees between 18 to 20 years old will receive £6.83.
• Employees between 21 to 22 years old will receive £9.18.
• Employees 23 years old and over will receive £9.50.

This latest rise to the legislation will also be particularly important to those on salaried hours work, and the number of hours within the year that would be averaged over each pay reference point.

Click to download Employment Law Key Facts April 2022