April 2018

As of April 2018, the following changes apply:

With effect from 1 April 2018:

• The rate of Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Paternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay and Statutory Shared Parental Pay increases from £140.98 to £145.18 per week.
• The hourly rate of the National Living Wage (the rate for workers who are aged 25 and over) increases from £7.50 to £7.83. At the same time, the National Minimum Wage for workers aged at least 21 but under 25 rises from £7.05 to £7.38 per hour, the rate for workers who are aged at least 18 but under 21 increases from £5.60 to £5.90 per hour and the rate for workers aged 16 or 17 rises from £4.05 to £4.20 per hour. The apprentice rate rises from £3.50 to £3.70 per hour.
• The accommodation offset increases from £6.40 to £7.00 per day. The accommodation offset applies when an employer provides an employee with housing as part of his or her job. In these circumstances, a daily accommodation offset can be taken into account for the purposes of calculating whether or not the national minimum wage has been paid.

With effect from 6 April 2018:

• All payments made in lieu of notice, whether contractual or not, will be subject to tax and Class 1 National Insurance contributions. For our Notice Periods Policy click here.
• The minimum level of employer contribution into a pensions auto-enrolment scheme increases from 1% to 2%.
• The maximum amount of a week's pay for the purpose of calculating the basic award for unfair dismissal and a redundancy payment increases to £508 a week.
• The maximum amount of the compensatory award for unfair dismissal increases to £83,682.
• The rate of Statutory Sick Pay increases from £89.35 to £92.05 per week.