1. Ensure that your organisation is paying minimum wage
As from the 1st April 2019 the national minimum wage increases and this applies to all workers.
The details are as follows:
The details are as follows:
£8.21 per hour – 25 years and over
£7.70 per hour – 21 years to 24 years
£6.15 per hour – 18 to 20 years
£4.35 per hour – 16 to 17 years
£3.90 per hour – apprentices under 19 years, or apprentices age 19 years and over, but in the first year of apprenticeship
The law relates to the National Minimum Wage Act and the National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015 and the majority of workers older than compulsory school age qualify to receive the national minimum wage. There is a rate of the national minimum wage, referred to as the "national living wage", for workers aged 25 or over.
You can find out more information here. There is a specific process for calculating whether or not an employee has been paid the national minimum wage and employers must keep records that show that they have paid their workers the national minimum wage. Employers that fail to comply with national minimum wage rules may be subject to criminal prosecution, penalties and being publicly named.
You can find out more information here. There is a specific process for calculating whether or not an employee has been paid the national minimum wage and employers must keep records that show that they have paid their workers the national minimum wage. Employers that fail to comply with national minimum wage rules may be subject to criminal prosecution, penalties and being publicly named.
2. Ensure your organisations payslips are updated
On the 6th April 2019 and for pay periods after that date there are two important changes.
The first is that the employer must include different rates of hourly pay on the employees’ wage slip. So if the worker has a fixed monthly salary and their overtime is paid at a different hourly rate, these must be broken down.
The second is that this all workers, not just employees, are entitled to a payslip for periods on or after the 6th April 2019.
3. Increase statutory family-related pay and statutory sick pay
From 7th April 2019, the statutory family pay rates will increased to £148.68 per week and the statutory sick pay increased to £94.25 from 6th April 2019.
This applies to maternity, adoption, paternity pay, shared paternal leave and those on sick.
4. Adjust your organisations statutory redundancy pay calculations
Employees with two years’ service that are made redundant must be paid an amount based on their weekly pay, length of service and age. This is subject to a weekly maximum amount, which is £535 from 6th April 2019.
5. Start work on your 2019 modern slavery statement
In 2018, the Home Office wrote to larger organisations, with a turnover of at least £36 million per year, advising the requirement for them to publish their annual modern slavery and human trafficking statements and warning that “continued non-compliance will not be tolerated”.
Whilst there is no set date to publish this information, the government guidelines are six months from the end of the organisations financial year.
6. Meet the gender pay gap deadline
Employers with over 250 employees, will be finishing off their second gender pay gap reports. The deadline for private-sector and voluntary-sector was the 4th April 2019, and for public-sector the 30th March 2019.
The report must appear on the employer’s website, be accessible to the public and remain there for three years.
The report results need to be registered on the government’s reporting website. You no not have to put a narrative with the results; however, some larger companies are choosing to do so in order to explain any gaps.
Failure to publish the report could result in public criticism for large employees.
7. Continue to monitor Brexit negotiations
Watch this space, as we are doing with Brexit developments.
With the exit date now moved to next year, we would urge employees who have EEA nationals working for them to apply for settled or pre-settled status, so that they can remain living and working in the UK indefinitely.
For more information on all employment issues, call us on 01245 261883 or email contactus@littlerock.co.uk.
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