2018 has a number of significant Employment Law developments.

Business owners and HR personnel – Here is a helpful overview of key areas your business needs to be prepared for:

30th March 2018 – Gender pay gap reporting for public sector employers.

  • Public sector employers with 250 or more employees must publish their first gender pay gap reports before this date.

  • The reports will cover pay data from 2016 to 2017 including the differences in pay between male and female employee pay and bonuses.

  • Employers must post their reports on their own website and on a government website.

  • This also applies to private sector employers – see below.

 

1st April 2018 -– Increase to Minimum Wage

  • There will be an increase to the National Living Wage on 1st April 2018.
  • For workers aged 25 and over this will increase to £7.83 per hour.
  • Other rates will also increase as follows:

£7.38 per hour for workers aged 21 to 24;

£5.90 per hour for workers aged 18 to 20;

£4.20 per hour for workers aged 18 who are no longer of compulsory school age; and an

Apprentice minimum wage rise to £3.70 per hour

 

1st April 2018 – Statutory family pay & statutory sick pay increases

  • Statutory family pay rates will have increases to the current weekly amounts of £140.98.

  • These will be increased to £145.18 on the 1st April 2018 and apply to statutory maternity pay (SMP), statutory paternity pay (SPP), statutory shared parental pay (ShPP) and statutory adoption pay (SAP).

  • Statutory sick pay (SSP) will also be increased to £92.05 per week, which is an increase from £89.35.

 

4th April 2018Gender pay gap reporting for private sector employers

  • Private sector employers with 250 or more employees must publish first reports before this date covering pay data from 2016 to 2017 including the differences in pay between male and female employee pay and bonuses.

 

6th April 2018 – Taxation of termination payments

  • All notice pay is to be potentially treated as earnings and subject to tax and national insurance contributions (subject to finalisation of the Finance Bill). This is likely to impact on employee exits and settlement agreements. Watch this space!

 

25th May 2018  – The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) are in force.

  • GDPR is widely reported as having the purpose and effect of updating and harmonising existing data protection law across the EU.

  • It comes into effect on the 25th May 2018 for all EU member states including the UK.

  • Advice and guidance on this area unfortunately cannot be provided in this simple overview however employers will need to conduct data audits and policy reviews in the lead up to this in May this year, to ensure that their data protection practices are GDPR compliant.

  • Employers will also need to issue new or updated privacy notices to employees and job applicants outlining what data they collect and how the data is used.

 

Farleys Solicitors LLP specialise in all areas of employment law and HR. If you are a business owner or HR personnel and require advice and assistance in relation to any of this year’s developments or any other employment law or HR matter please contact the employment team on 0845 287 0939 or submit your enquiry online.