Keeping up to date with Statutory Payment Changes and Employment Legislation

At last, we're getting closer to the start of Spring. That means there are only a few weeks to go until the April statutory changes. Every year the government makes adjustments to payment entitlements and introduces updates to employment law. As a small business you need to make sure you're prepared for these changes and you adjust your people practices as appropriate.

So what do you need to think about?

National minimum wage (NMW) will increase from 1 April 2019, giving all minimum wage workers a pay increase. NMW applies to all workers and is paid at different rates according to age plus there is a separate rate for apprentices.

If you employ people on the NMW make sure that you let them know the new rate is coming and make adjustments to your payroll. Don't forget, if you employ workers who are paid on output you still need to ensure that they receive the NMW or a fair piece rate. We can help you understand the NMW and how it affects your workers plus provide letters and employee communications.

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) rules mean qualifying staff will receive £94.25 per week from 6 April 2019. We can help you develop your sickness absence policy to ensure that absence is managed fairly and consistently. Should you wish to enhance sick pay, we can highlight the things you need to consider and develop suitable company sick pay clauses.

There are also new rates for maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental pay . This can be a complex and confusing area to understand. We can help you create or amend policies to help you manage staff, including eligibility checklists and considering how to manage employees who wish to share parental leave.

Up until now, you've only had to issue payslips for your employees. However, you'll need to issue payslips to both ‘workers’ and ‘employees’ from 6 April 2019. It can be difficult to understand employment status and we can support you in understanding who may be considered to be a worker.

If you have any questions in relation to the changes or want support with any people related matters then please get in touch with us (nicole.james@bamboopeoplesolutions.co.uk). We think the workplace should be a great place to go everyday and can help you make sure that's true for your business. Whether that's developing fair policies and processes, thinking about how you can improve your rewards and recognition or developing great teams. We also know that you want to ensure you avoid legal risks and can help you with managing difficult situations or make changes to contracts.

Keep an eye out in future for:

New legislation announced to prevent tip deductions - The Government has announced that legislation will be introduced, at the earliest opportunity, to prevent unfair tipping practices. The aim will be to ensure that staff are receiving all tips that relate to their service and outlawing the ability for businesses to make deductions.

At this stage, there are no further details as to how this will apply across businesses or any expected implementation date. Tipping is a complex area in itself, and it will have to be confirmed whether the new law will apply to cash tips, gratuities paid through cards and/or service charges automatically applied to restaurant bills.