April 2025 sees an increase in a number of rates and limits of relevance to employers, including national minimum wage, statutory sick pay, statutory family leave pay, statutory redundancy pay and compensation for unfair dismissal.
Details of the most notable changes are below:
1. National Minimum Wage
From 1 April 2025, the following minimum rates of pay apply:
- The National Living Wage for those aged 21 and above is £12.21 per hour (up 6.73%)
- The National Minimum Wage for:
- 18- to 20-year-olds (inclusive) is £10.00 per hour (up 16.27%)
- 16 to 17-year- olds (inclusive) is £7.55 per hour (up 17.96%)
- Apprentices under 19 (all) or 19 and over (in their first year) is £7.55 per hour (up 17.96%)
2. Statutory sick pay
From 6 April 2025, the rate at which statutory sick pay is paid will increase to £118.75 per week.
3. Statutory family-related leave
From 6 April 2025, the following prescribed rates of pay apply:
- Statutory maternity pay or adoption pay for the first six weeks is 90% of average weekly earnings per week.
- Statutory maternity pay or adoption pay for the remaining weeks is the lower of 90% of average weekly earnings or £187.18 per week.
- Statutory paternity pay, shared parental pay, and parental bereavement pay is the lower of 90% of average weekly earnings or £187.18 per week.
4. Weekly pay
The value of a number of employment claims, including statutory redundancy pay, are calculated by reference to an employee’s weekly pay. This weekly pay is itself subject to a cap of a prescribed amount.
From 6 April 2025, the prescribed cap on weekly pay will increase to £719. Consequently, statutory redundancy pay will increase, with the maximum payment increasing to £21,570.
5. Compensation for unfair dismissal
Compensation for unfair dismissal claims is split into a “basic” award and a “compensatory” award. The basic award is calculated in a similar way to statutory redundancy pay and will, therefore, be increased as described above.
The compensatory award is calculated by reference to the claimant’s loss of earnings, subject to a statutory cap. The cap on the compensatory award for ordinary unfair dismissal claims will increase as of 6 April 2025 to £118,223 (or 52 weeks’ gross actual pay, if lower). These new figures will apply where the effective date of termination falls on or after 6 April 2025.
6. Vento bands
In discrimination claims, claimants can seek an award for injury to feelings as well as compensation for financial loss. There are three bands of potential awards:
- An award in the lower band would be “appropriate for less serious cases, such as where the act of discrimination is an isolated or one-off occurrence.”
- An award in the middle band “should be used for serious cases, which do not merit an award in the highest band.”
- An award in the top band would be made “in the most serious cases, such as where there has been a lengthy campaign of discriminatory harassment on the ground of sex or race.”
In respect of claims presented on or after 6 April 2025, the Vento bands will now be:
- Lower band: £1,200 - £12,100
- Middle band: £12,100 - £36,400
- Higher band: £36,400 - £60,700
Phoebe Starbuck