A new fiscal year always means more fun legislation changes. This year is no different and, as well as the tax changes which we’ve already detailed, there are a raft of changes to employment law. Effective from April 2011 are the following changes -
- Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay, Maternity Allowance and Paternity rises to £128.73 (from £124.88).
- The legislation that was introduced in April 2010 for Additional Paternity Leave and pay becomes effective for children who are born or adopted after 3rd April 2011. This gives fathers and spouses or partners of mothers the right to up to 26 weeks Additional Paternity Leave (and pay) in certain circumstances where the mother or main adopter of a child has returned to work – for further details see our updated Paternity Leave article.
- Statutory Sick Pay rises to £81.60 (from £79.15 per week).
- New rates for National Insurance Contributions and allowances come into effect from 6th April 2011 – see our detailed article on NI Rates.
- The Default Retirement Age of 65 is abolished from October 2011 with ‘transitional’ arrangements coming into place from 6th April 2011. See our Guide for the details of what this means here.
- From 1st April 2011 there starts a 3 year exemption from new UK regulations for businesses with fewer than 10 employees (excluding safety and security legislation).
- Additional positive-actions provisions from the October 2010 Equality Act come into force on 6th April 2011, which allows Employers to take positive action to improve the diversity of the work force in certain circumstances – for further information read our article on Equal Opportunities.
Please note that the advice given on this website and by our Advisors is guidance only and cannot be taken as an authoritative interpretation of the law. It can also not be seen as specific advice for individual cases. Please also note that there are differences in legislation in Northern Ireland.
