There are a number of employment law changes that employers will need to take action on to meet the ongoing challenges within the workplace as a result of the pandemic.
Let’s delve into our 5 key employment law action points for 2022:
1. Increase to national living wage
- From 1 April 2022, the National Living Wage (NLW) will increase by 6.6% from £8.91 to £9.50 per hour.
- This increase will apply to all those 23 years old and over. There will also be increases to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) for workers who are aged 22 and under. View the current national minimum wages here.
- Employers should review their pay rates against these new rates and increase wages where necessary from 1 April 2022.
2. Increase to statutory sick and family-related pay
- From 6 April 2022, statutory sick pay (SSP) will increase from £96.35 to £99.35 per week.
- Family related statutory pay (including maternity, adoption, paternity, shared parental and parental bereavement pay will also increase from £151.97 to £156.66 per week.
- Employers need to make sure that these new rates apply for all employees on sick and family-related leave and that any reference to statutory rates within HR policies are also updated.
3. Gender pay gap reporting
- For employers with 250 employees or more, the next gender pay gap reporting deadline is 30 March 2022 for public sector employers and 4 April 2022 for private and voluntary sector employers.
- Employers may choose to add a narrative and explanation for their pay gap and what steps they plan to take to reduce any gap.
4. Temporary right to work checks
- The temporary measures allowing right to work checks to be carried out virtually has now been extended until 30 September 2022.
- Moving forwards, we anticipate that new guidance will be issued on right to work checks to incorporate the temporary measures on a permanent basis.
5. Extra bank holiday
- To mark the Queen’s platinum jubilee, there will be an extra public holiday in 2022 (Friday 3 June). The late May bank holiday has also been moved to Thursday 2 June to make a four-day weekend.
- Although many businesses will decide to give an extra day off as a gesture of goodwill, it is the contract of employment that will determine whether this is an entitlement or whether you can reach an alternative agreement with your team.
- Employers should plan in advance now and communicate their approach on the additional bank holiday to employees in advance.
If you would like to discuss any of the above changes further with a member of our HR team, please get in touch to learn about our HR consultancy service.