Happy new year all, and I hope you had a lovely festive period. It was a fairly quiet one for us this year after a hectic past few years where we hosted Christmas, in all honesty, I was ready for a year off!
It was very nice to be waited on by my mum this year and she did an excellent job, it was just us four (Dad and Wayne included), we started in our local pub which seems to be our new tradition since we moved here and then back to my mum and dad’s for dinner. My brother and his family then came across later on, and it was the first Christmas for my niece, Olive, which was so lovely.
I even managed to sneak away for new years just me and Wayne which was very relaxing and some very much needed downtime. I watched all my favourite films, including but not limited to Lost in Translation, You’ve Got Mail, Pretty Woman (the Harry Potter’s took a back seat). I don’t know about you but the last week of work before we broke up was absolutely crackers! Never mind all the wrapping and last minute gift buying on top, I thought my head was going to explode… thankfully I made it through, and it helps having amazing colleagues pulling you through.
I’m hoping for a more chilled start to 2025, we have no plans in the diary for January at least, and it is going to stay that way! We spent this weekend just pottering round the house and taxi-ing kids around, I do like having a good sort out in the new year once the Christmas decorations are out the way.
I don’t really do new year’s resolutions, but I know I definitely need to put down the cheese and probably get back on the treadmill at some point, so I’ll make a start on that soon… I do like to take the time to look forward into the year to set some goals and plan my trips for the year though, so that’s what I’ll be spending my January doing.
Which leads me nicely onto the topic of the blog today, looking forward into 2025 in the world of HR and employment law, there are several significant changes which are set to take effect, and now, we think, would be a good time to start to plan for these.
- National minimum wage increases
From the 1 April 2025, the national minimum wage increase will come into force. They will be as follows:
National living wage: increases by £0.77 to £12.21 per hour
Ages 18 – 20: increases by £1.40 to £10.00 per hour
Ages 16 – 17 & Apprentices : increases by £1.15 to £7.55 per hour
It has been said that the increase in the 18-20 age rate is to narrow the gap in anticipation of the national living wage being extended to 18 year olds in the future. If you haven’t already, make sure you’ve reviewed the wages of all workers in your organisation to ensure you’re not falling foul of national minimum wage requirements. As always, if you do need to increase wages then record this in writing using a contractual variation letter.
- Statutory payment increases
From April 2025, statutory payment rates in the UK will also increase.
Statutory sick pay will increase to £118.75, and the qualifying threshold will be £125 per week. Something to also keep an eye on is that this also may be payable from day one of sickness leave under the proposed Employment Rights Bill, but this is unlikely to be in effect this April.
Statuotry maternity, adoption, paternity, shared parental leave and parental bereavement pay will increase to £187.18 per week. The lower earnings limit in order to qualify for these payments is also going to be increased to £125.
Remember! Team Precept will be sharing our Rates and Limits cheat sheet imminently and that will tell you all the employment related figures that you need to know for this year.
- Employer national insurance contributions (NICs) to increase
One update which has been grabbing headlines is the increase in employer national insurance contributions (NICs), these will be from 6 April 2025 and include:
- An increase in the rate from 13.8% and 15%
- The threshold at which employers start paying NICs per employee will decrease from £9,100 to £5,000 per year
- The employment allowance will increase from £5,000 to £10,500 per year and will be extended to all eligible employers by removing the £100,000 threshold and becoming available to all employers.
- Neonatal care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 comes into effect
April will be a busy month for changes as this Act is also due to come into effect in April 2025. The Neonatal Care Actentitles parents whose babies require neonatal care additional statutory leave and pay.
Eligible employees will be given up to 12 weeks of paid leave in addition to other maternity, paternity and shared parental leave entitlements. To be eligible for leave and pay the following must apply:
- The child must have been in neonatal care within 28 days after birth and they must have been there for seven or more consecutive days;
- The individual must be an employee and they must have responsibility for the upbringing of (or main caring responsibilities) for the child in neonatal care
- It’s a day one right but “correct” notice must be given (and we’re still waiting for detailed regulations to set out the notice that must be given and how it must be given)
- Employment Rights Bill
We spoke about this when the bill was published back in October 2024, (Read our article here), but consultations are set to begin on the bill this year and whilst these reforms aren’t expected to come into force until 2026, we should begin the preparations to ensure compliance throughout 2025 by updating policies and getting plans in place to deal with any changes ahead of time.
There are some 28 reforms, such as removal of the 2-year qualifying period for protection from unfair dismissal, as well as establishing day-one rights to paternity, parental and bereavement leave. The bill also seeks to prevent employers from dismissing and rehiring employees on less favourable terms (the fire and rehire tactic) in all but “exceptional” circumstances, as well as ending zero hour contracts to provide more predictable working hours for workers.
Keep an eye on our updates to be in the know. Early preparations such as reviewing policies and identifying training requirements for managers could save you a lot of hassle in the long run. In the meantime, given the potentially huge impact these reforms are going to have on every employer across the land, we’d encourage you to take part in the consultation process and to provide your feedback to the government. Any small wins that can be gained here and going to make a difference and you can bet your bottom dollar if you’re worried about something in the Bill, another 20 employers are also going to be worried!
- Right to switch off
The right to “switch off” was an interesting measure which formed part of the government’s Plan to Make Work Pay that was absent from the employment rights bill. We’ve heard rumblings that the government plans to introduce a code of practice to prevent employees from being contacted outside of working hours, except in exceptional circumstances. This could be on the horizon fairly soon as well so we thought we’d flag now. The right to switch off is being brought in to help the work life balances of employees, especially those who work from home. This is something that has formed a key part of employment and HR since the COVID-19 pandemic and that doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon.
In light of these upcoming changes (which are big ones!), we recommend that you should review and update your policies and of course, we are more than happy to undertake these reviews for you, please just get in touch with one of the team.
Some employers may need to start to look at their budgets for the increase in costs for the NIC and higher wage bills. The harsh reality is with ever increasing costs, you may need to look at how you structure your workforce and the number of employees you have. If that then means you have to look at redundancies, again, we are more than happy to help with the process and we recommend that the sooner we get involved, the more smoothly the process will run for you.
Staying informed about these changes (through our blogs of course, you can sign up for these here as well as our training courses, which you can book onto here), and ensuring you proactively deal with the changes will stand you in good stead for the year ahead.
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