The government has confirmed increases to statutory payments and tribunal awards, which will take effect on 6th April 2019.
The key changes include:
- The statutory cap on a week’s pay, which is used, for example, to calculate statutory redundancy entitlement and basic unfair dismissal awards, will rise from £508 to £525.
- The maximum statutory redundancy payment, which will apply to employees who are made redundant on or after 6 April 2019, will increase from £15,240 to £15,750.
- The maximum statutory cap on the compensatory award for unfair dismissal will increase from £83,682 to £86,444.
- The minimum basic award for certain automatically unfair dismissals, for example dismissals due to trade union membership or breach of a statutory right, will increase from £6,203 to £6,408.
There will also be changes to the rates for statutory family leave including:
- Statutory maternity pay
- Statutory paternity pay
- Statutory adoption pay
- Shared parental leave pay
All of the above rates are increasing from £145.18 to £148.68.
Finally to note, the rate of statutory sick pay will increase from £92.05 to £94.25.
Employers should make sure that they are aware of the increases and apply these as appropriate.
We will be updating our HR Facts and Figures page in April, to reflect the new rates.