New employment rights
Neonatal leave and pay
The Labour Government recently confirmed that the right to neonatal leave and pay will come into force with effect from April 2025. While neonatal leave is a day 1 right for employees, the right to paid leave requires 26 weeks service and the employee must earn above the lower earnings limit. Eligible employees will be able to take the leave if their baby requires seven (or more) days of continuous neonatal care starting within the first 28 days following birth. Eligible employees may take one week of leave for each week the child spends in neonatal care, capped at twelve weeks. For more on how the new right will work see Neonatal leave and pay - what to expect.
The Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act 2024
At the time of writing, the regulations needed to bring the Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act into effect have not been published but during its passage through Parliament, the then Government indicated that it should be brought into effect as soon as possible. So, it is more of a maybe than definite for April 2025. If it is brought into force, amongst other things, it will remove, for partners of mothers who have died, (1) the qualifying service requirement for paternity leave and (2) the prohibition on taking paternity leave after shared parental leave. We will cover the full details of this legislation if it is brought into effect.
Annual changes
National living and national minimum wage
1 April will see the annual changes to the National Living Wage ("NLW") and National Minimum Wage ("NMW") take effect. As of that date: -
- NLW (for those aged 21 and over) will increase from £11.44 to £12.21 per hour.
- NMW (for those aged 18 to 20) will increase from £8.60 to £10.00 per hour.
- NMW (for those aged 16 and 17 and apprentices aged under 19 or in the first year of their apprenticeship) will increase from £6.40 to £7.55 per hour.
Statutory benefits
Statutory sick pay will increase from £116.75 to £118.75 per week. Statutory maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption, and parental bereavement pay will increase from £184.03 to £187.18 per week. The changes are expected to take effect from 6 April 2025.
Employment Tribunal compensation
It is likely that the new rates for the 2025/26 year will be announced shortly and will apply to dismissals occurring on or after 6 April 2025. In 2024, the limit on the compensatory award for unfair dismissal increased from £105,707 to £115,115. Also in 2024, the limit on a week's pay (used for calculating statutory redundancy payments and the basic award for unfair dismissal) increased from £643 to £700.
Guidelines for injury to feelings awards
An award for injury to feelings is made to compensate for injury to feelings caused by discrimination. This award is separate from an award to compensate for financial loss and can be made even where no financial loss has been suffered. To assist Employment Tribunals, the Court of Appeal previously set out guidance for quantifying awards for injury to feelings, known as the Vento bands. The bands are reviewed annually and any increases for 2025/26 are likely to be announced shortly and will apply to claims presented on or after 6 April 2025.
The current bands (for claims presented on or after 6 April 2024) are as follows: -
- Lower band (less serious cases) - £1,200 to £11,700.
- Middle band (for cases that do not merit an award in the upper band) - £11,700 to £35,200.
- Upper band (for most serious cases) - £35,200 to £58,700.
Awards of more than £58,700 will only be made in the most exceptional cases.
Gender pay gap reporting
30 March will see the gender pay gap reporting deadline for public sector employers (using 31 March 2024 as a snapshot date).
4 April will see the gender pay gap reporting deadline for private companies and voluntary organisations with 250 or more staff, using a snapshot date of 5 April 2024. Year-on-year data shows slow progress in addressing gender pay gaps, with only a 1.6% drop since mandatory monitoring was introduced, so there is still much work to be done. With the UK Government's intention to extend pay gap reporting to include ethnicity and disability (via the proposals to be set out in the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill) it would be good to see some progress with narrowing gender-based pay gaps. The requirement for gender pay action plans (not yet in force) may assist in the future.
