Although the Employment Rights Bill is still making its way through parliament, there are a number of obligations coming into force this April for which HR needs to prepare.
Alongside the usual statutory changes to minimum wage rates and other allowances, employers have new considerations around neonatal leave and redundancy, not to mention the controversial hike in employers’ national insurance contributions.
Personnel Today provides an HR checklist for April 2025.
National minimum wage rates increase
The National Living Wage will increase to £12.21 per hour from 1 April 2025 and will apply to employees aged 21 and over. Workers between the age of 18 and 20 will see their national minimum wage rate rise by £1.40 an hour to £10.00 an hour, and the 16 to 17-year-old rate will rise to £7.55. Apprentices will also need to be paid at least £7.55 an hour.
Samantha O’Sullivan, policy lead at the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals, says the new rates offer a “perfect opportunity for a review. to ensure that your employees with salary sacrifice agreements have post salary sacrifice pay over the minimum wage and that no other deductions are impacting your NMW compliance”.
“Our advisory team has seen an increase in questions regarding salary sacrifice and its impact on NMW, indicating the complexity of the issue,” she says.
“We urge employers and agents to get their payroll processes ready for 1st April 2025 and emphasise the importance of compliance, especially around salary sacrifice.”
Employers’ NICs go up
As announced in last October’s budget, employers’ national insurance contributions will rise from 13.8% to 15% on 6 April 2025. The threshold at which employers become liable to pay NICs will drop from £9,100 to £5,000, until 5 April 2028.
The employment allowance, which entitles employers to claim money off their liability for employer NICs, will increase from £5,000 to £10,500, while the £100,000 eligibility threshold for employment allowance will be removed.
Statutory sick pay rises
Statutory sick pay rises by £2 to £118.75 per week from 6 April, with the lower earnings threshold that must be met to be eligible for these payments rising to £125 a week.
“While the statutory sick pay increase is only small, as part of the government’s Employment Rights Bill, there are further proposals to increase the provision of sick pay to workers,” says Kate Palmer, employment services director at Peninsula. “Under these proposals, all workers regardless of usual earnings will be entitled to either 80% of their weekly earnings, or the flat rate, whichever is lower, from day one of sickness.”
Introduction of neonatal care leave and pay
From 6 April, eligible families with babies in neonatal care will be entitled to up to 12 weeks’ neonatal care leave, and will be entitled to neonatal care pay if they meet continuity of service requirements and a minimum earnings threshold.
Statutory neonatal care pay will be paid at the same rate as other family leave payments, which will be £187.18 a week from April 2025.
Statutory redundancy and tribunal award limits increase
The limits applying to various tribunal awards will rise from 6 April, including the maximum amount of weekly pay to be used for the purpose of calculating a redundancy payment.
The cap on a week’s pay for statutory redundancy pay calculations will rise from £700 to £719, and the limit for compensatory awards for unfair dismissal will rise from £115,115 to £118,223.
Other changes include the maximum award for unlawful inducement relating to trade union membership or activities, which will increase from £5,000 to £5,735.
Maternity, paternity and adoption pay rates go up
New statutory rates for maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave will come into effect on 6 April 2025.
Statutory maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental pay will go up nominally from £184.03 to £187.18 a week.
The earnings threshold for these payments will also go up from £123 to £125 a week. The threshold for maternity allowance will remain at £30 per week.
Employees on carer’s allowance will also see their weekly earnings threshold rise from £151 per week to £196, and weekly payment increase from £81.90 to £83.30.
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