March 2019 – Preventing Illegal Working & New Statutory Pay Rates
Employment Update for Small Businesses
March 2019
Dear Subscriber
This month we have just a brief update for you on new guidance from the Home Office relating to checking new employees’ right to work in the UK, and new statutory rates of pay.
Please contact me if you would like to find out a bit more about any of the subjects raised in this update or if you need any help or advice.
Please forward this email to any of your contacts who might find it of benefit.
The Home Office’s Code of Practice on preventing illegal working has been updated recently, and now includes details of an online checking service which employers can use in some cases. This is limited in its scope, and can only be used in relation to certain immigrants who are unable to produce the standard documentation (including some employees from the Windrush generation).
The Code of Practice also sets out the standard checks that employers should carry out for every new employee.
New Statutory Rates of Pay
Statutory Sick Pay, Maternity Pay and Redundancy Pay
In April the following statutory rates will increase, as follows:
Statutory Sick Pay increases from £92.05 to £94.25 per week
The flat-rate Statutory Maternity Pay* increases from £145.18 to £148.68 per week
The cap on a week’s pay for Statutory Redundancy Pay purposes increases from £508 to £525 per week
* The same rates are used for Statutory Adoption Pay, Paternity Pay, and Shared Parental Pay
National Minimum and Living Wage Rates
The current National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage rates are increasing from 1st April 2019 as follows:
From £7.83 to £8.21 per hour for workers aged 25 and over
From £7.38 to £7.70 per hour for workers aged 21 to 24
From £5.90 to £6.15 per hour for workers aged 18 to 20
From £4.20 to £4.35 per hour for workers aged 16 and 17
From £3.70 to £3.90 per hour for apprentices under 19 and those over 19 in their first year*
*N.B. Apprentices over 19 and who have completed at least one year are entitled to the appropriate rate for their age.
