The government have recently announced some proposed legislative changes.
Payslips
In its response to the Taylor Review (see our blog earlier in the week), the government made a commitment to require employers to provide itemised payslips to all workers, not just employees. Accordingly, the draft Employment Rights Act 1996 (Itemised Pay Statement) (Amendment) (No 2) Order 2018 was laid before Parliament on 8th February 2018. It is expected to come into force on 6 April 2019.
The scope of the Order is such that it will amend Section 8, 9, 11 and 12 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and will provide all workers with the right to receive an itemised payslip and the ability to enforce that right in the employment tribunal.
The Order will also require employers to itemise payslips to show the number of hours that a worker has been paid for, where the worker is paid on an hourly basis. Different figures must also be shown where an employee receives differing rates of pay for different types of work.
National Minimum Wage
Also on 6th February 2018, the draft National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Regulations 2018 were published. These regulations seek to change the rates of the national minimum wage in accordance with recommendations provided by the Low Pay Commission.
From 1st April 2018, it is expected that the following hourly rates will apply:
- The national living wage (workers aged 25 and over) is £7.83;
- The standard adult rate (workers aged between 21 and 24) is £7.38;
- The development rate (workers aged between 18 and 20) is £5.90;
- The young workers rate (workers aged under 18 but above the compulsory school age who are not apprentice) is £4.20;
- The rate for apprentices is £3.70.
From the same date, the accommodation offset will be £7.00 each day.
Increase to statutory limits
Finally, the statutory limits on certain payments will also change on 6th April. The new rates to note are:
- The cap on a week’s pay for the purposes of calculating (amongst other things and employee’s entitlement to a statutory redundancy payment) will increase to £508.
- The limit on the compensatory award for unfair dismissal will rise from £80,541 to £83,682. That maximum is still subject to the alternative cap of 1 year’s gross pay, with an employee only entitled to recover the lower of the two.
- Guarantee pay will increase from £27 to £28 per day.
The new rates apply to any cause of action which occurs on or after 6th April 2018.
If you would like further information on any of the topics above, or have any other employment law related query, then please do not hesitate to contact us.