1)   Increases to national minimum wage rates - The hourly rates for the national minimum wage will increase on 1 April 2022 as follows:

• £8.91 to £9.50 for workers aged 23 and over (the national living wage)
• £8.36 to £9.18 for workers aged 21 or 22
• £6.56 to £6.83 for workers aged 18 to 20
• £4.62 to £4.81 for workers aged under 18 who are no longer of compulsory school age, and
• £4.30 to £4.81 for apprentices under 19, or over 19 and in the first year of the apprenticeship.

2)   Covid-19 Vaccination - Employers can remind their employees of the importance of getting their booster jab and encourage those who have not already had their original doses to book their vaccination appointments (subject to any medical reason as to why they have not done so).

3)   Increases to statutory family-related pay and sick pay - The rate of statutory maternity, adoption, paternity, shared parental and parental bereavement pay will increase to £156.66, up from £151.97. The increase normally takes effect on the first Sunday in April, which in 2022 is 3 April.  Statutory sick pay will also rise on 6 April 2022 from £96.35 to £99.35.

4)   Right-to-work checks guidance - From 30 March 2020 until 5 April 2022, temporary guidance on right-to-work checks has been in place to allow employers to conduct checks which can be carried out using video and scanned or photo versions of the original required.

5)   Statutory redundancy pay - New limits on employment statutory redundancy pay will come into force on 6 April 2022.  These will be confirmed in February.

6)   Extra Bank holiday entitlement during platinum jubilee - The government has announced an extra bank holiday in 2022 (Friday 3 June), to celebrate the Queen’s platinum jubilee.  Also, the late May bank holiday has been moved to Thursday 2 June.

This means that there will be two back-to-back bank holidays in June 2022.

What else is coming up?

Some of the other changes which will be coming in, but as yet don't have a timescale for include:

• amendments to the rules on settlement agreements
• new provisions to give workers the right to request a more predictable and stable contractual working pattern, and
• new rules to ensure that tips are passed to workers in full
• changes to the right to request flexible working procedure

Would you like to ensure that your HR documents are up-to-date with current UK employment legislation? 

Would you like a tool which fully automates holiday management?

Would you like a tool which helps to keep your employees working remotely engaged?

Check out our fantastic software HR Pulse - 'At the heart of your business' please call Sue on 07951 356700 or email sue@evergreenhr.co.uk.

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