Employment Law Changes, April 2025 (summary)
- Statutory sick pay will increase to £118.75 per week (from £116.75)
- Statutory maternity, paternity, adoption & shared parental pay will increase to £187.18 per week (from £184.30)
- Statutory redundancy pay will increase to £719 (from £700)
- National minimum wage
- Under age 18 - £7.55 per hour (from £6.40)
- Apprentices - £7.55 per hour (from £6.40)
- Aged 18-20 - £10 per hour (from £8.60)
- Age 21 & over - £12.21 per hour (from £11.44)
- Increase in NI contributions for employers
- Increase of 1.2% to 15% (from 13.8%), paying on employee earnings at £5,000 instead of £9,100
- Neonatal leave & pay Act 2023 (NCL)
- 12 weeks of leave & pay for neonatal care in addition to existing parental leave
- Can take NCL from day 1 and receive statutory neonatal care pay after 26 weeks service
Reference: Hill HR - https://www.hillhr.co.uk/
Holiday Years running from 1st April to 31st March
In 2025, Easter falls late - 19th to 21st April. This means Good Friday & Easter Monday bank holidays fall into the 2025/26 holiday year. As a result, the 1st April 2024-31st March 2025 only had 7 bank holidays.
Þ You will need to review the wording in your contracts of employment as that will determine the correct approach to take:
Þ If your contract states “28 days holiday including BH” there will be no breach - you can honour that wording to ensure your staff receive their full entitlement of days
Þ If your contract provides “20 days plus bank holidays” action is needed as employees would only have only received 27 days holiday this year, falling short of the statutory minimum
Þ If your contract states “x days plus 8 bank holidays” again you will need to give the additional bank holiday to ensure your employees receive 8 bank holidays and you are not breaching the terms of their contract