In 2018, businesses with an obligation to comply with employment law will need to be abreast of the important changes listed below:
Minimum Wage – 1st April
The annual minimum wage increases will become effective, so you will need to check if you have any employees who will be affected, and also remember to pre-empt any birthdays that may be coming up that will push staff into the next band.
Most affected age brackets are 18-20 and 21-24, with the largest increase in 10 years and they are predicting this is where most employers will fall short.
Gender Pay – 5th April
Gender pay reports must be available for the public to view, organisations who have 250 or more employees must have published their gap on their own websites and submitted them to the government’s web page.
Statutory Payments – 6th April
Statutory payments will increase. The weekly amount for statutory family pay rates will increase to £145.18. This encompasses maternity pay, adoption pay, paternity pay,
shared parental pay and maternity allowance.
Statutory sick pay is also increasing from £89.35 to £92.05. To be entitled to these statutory payments, the employee’s average earnings must be equal to or more than the lower earnings limit and the lower earnings limit is increasing from £113 to £116.
Auto Enrolment – 6th April
Auto-enrolment minimum contributions will be increasing to a total of 5% (2% made by the employer and 3% made by the employee).
GDPR – 25th May
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which updates and harmonises data protection law across the EU will become mandatory. The Regulation will apply to the UK post-Brexit, as the GDPR has been incorporated into the Data Protection Bill. Organisations should be conducting data audits and policy reviews in the lead up to May’s deadline, to ensure their data protection practices are GDPR compliant.
If you need any help or guidance on any of the above topics, please get in touch.
