What's New for 2012?
New Rates for Compensation
February 2012: Costs associated with employment continue to rise. The maximum amount of a week's pay used to calculate a statutory redundancy payment and the basic and additional awards for unfair dismissal increases from £400 to £430 on 1 February 2012. The maximum unfair dismissal compensatory award increases from £68,400 to £72,300. The limit on the amount of a guarantee payment payable to an employee in respect of any day also increases from £22.20 to £23.50.
Qualifying period for unfair dismissal protection is increased
April 2012: The biggest change to employment rights for 2012 is the increase of the qualifying period for an employee to bring an unfair dismissal claim, from one year to two years. This change will come into force on 6 April 2012. The Government has said that it intends to increase the qualifying period for unfair dismissal to "give employers greater confidence in taking on people and ease the burden on the employment tribunal process".
This is positive for employers ... but a word of warning... employees can still bring a claim against their employer if they have less than two years service, IF the reason for the dismissal is connected to an area that does not require a qualifying period. This includes dismissals relating to discrimination and it is therefore anticipated that the number of claims in this area will increase. It is still important to act with caution in any dismissal situation to ensure you don't find yourself facing a claim.
New Rates for Family Friendly Rights and Changes
April 2012: The Government has confirmed that the standard rate of statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay will increase from £128.73 to £135.45 per week from 1 April 2012. Statutory sick pay will increase from £81.60 to £85.85 per week from 6 April 2012.
Unpaid paternal leave will increase to 4 months.
Pension's auto-enrolment begins
October 2012: For larger employers (more than 50 employees) the new pension auto-enrolment will begin from 1st October 2012. Smaller employers still have time to plan for this (now until 2015), but we would urge you to start the planning process as soon as possible.
National Minimum Wage
October 2012: the National minimum wage is likely to be increased - figures have not yet been announced.