In April of each year, the Government announce changes to statutory payments such as Sick Pay, Maternity Pay and the National Minimum Wage. May will also see an additional Bank Holiday for the Coronation of HM The King. April is the time for employers to reflect on how they will manage this in their businesses.
Statutory Rates Changes
This year’s changes are as follows:
| Rate from 1st April 2023 | Annual Increase (£) | Annual Increase (%) | |
| National Living Wage | £10.42 | 0.92 | 9.7 |
| 21-22 Year Old Rate | £10.18 | 1.00 | 10.9 |
| 18-20 Year Old Rate | £7.49 | 0.66 | 9.7 |
| 16-17 Year Old Rate | £5.28 | 0.47 | 9.7 |
| Apprentice Rate | £5.28 | 0.47 | 9.7 |
| Accommodation Offset | £9.10 | 0.40 | 4.6 |
Family friendly related pay, i.e., pay for maternity leave, paternity leave, adoption leave or shared parental leave, amongst others, will increase from £156.66 per week to £172.48 per week.
Statutory Sick Pay will increase from £99.35 per week to £109.40 per week.
We have also seen, as a result of The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2023, an increase to the compensatory award cap in employment tribunals, from £93,878.00 to £105,707.00. This is the maximum award that an employee can achieve for compensation relating to a claim for unfair dismissal.
There has also been an increase to the cap for a ‘week’s pay’ for basic award and redundancy payment calculations, from £571.00 per week to £643.00 per week.
Additional Bank Holiday
2023 also sees, for the second year in a row, the introduction of an additional nationwide bank holiday on 8th May 2023 for the King’s Coronation.
The impact that this will have on employers will vary dependent on the way that their employees’ contracts of employment are worded.
In short, if the contract of employment states that an employee receives their annual leave INCLUSIVE of bank holidays, then the additional bank holiday will be deemed to fall within their current and normal entitlement, and they will not be entitled to an additional day of annual leave for the year.
If the contract of employment states that holiday entitlement is PLUS the normal bank holidays and specifically states that there will be 8 bank holidays, then again, the additional bank holiday does not entitle the employee to an extra day of annual leave entitlement and 8th May would be taken from their normal annual leave entitlement of it is not worked.
However, if the contract states that an employee’s entitlement has bank holidays added on and doesn’t refer to normal bank holidays or to there being 8, then they may be entitled to an additional day of annual leave on top of their normal annual leave entitlement.
If you need any help or further advice, please contact our Human Resources department on 01981 590514.
