There is not a lot of new legislation coming in in 2022 but there are a few changes.
National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage
There are wage increases employers will need to factor in. From 1 April 2022, the National Living Wage, paid to workers aged 23 and over, will increase by 59 pence to £9.50.
The National Minimum Wage rates will also increase as follows:
- Those aged 23 and over will receive £9.50 per hour – an increase of 59 pence
- Those aged 21-22 will receive £9.18 per hour – an increase of 82 pence
- Those aged 18 – 20 will receive £6.83 – an increase of 27 pence
- Those aged 16-17 will receive £4.81 – an increase of 19 pence
- Apprentices under the age of 19 or in their first year will receive £4.81 – an increase of 51 pence
Increase in National Insurance contributions
National Insurance contributions for employers and employees will rise by1.25% from 6 April 2022. The increase will fund health and social care and will be replaced in April 2023 by a separate health and social care levy (and NIC rates will revert to current levels at that point).
Increases to the statutory rates for maternity, paternity, shared parental pay, adoption and sick pay
Weekly rates for family related leave will increase by £4.69 pence to £156.66 from 11 April 2022 and the rate for Statutory Sick Pay will increase by £3.00 to £99.35 per week from 6 April 2022.
Apprenticeship hiring incentives
Employers can obtain a financial incentive of £3,000 for each new apprentice they employ between 1 October 2021 and 31 January 2022. The application process opens on 11 January 2022 and closes on 15 May 2022.
This payment is in addition to the existing £1,000 employers will already receive for taking on an apprentice who is aged 16 to 18 years old or under 25 who an ECHR plan or has been in care.
Gender pay gap reporting
Since 2017, employers with 250 or more employees must publish an annual report containing data on their gender pay gap. Due to the pandemic, enforcement of the reporting deadline in 2021 was extended by six months to 5 October 2021.
In 2022, deadlines are expected to revert to the normal timescales:
- for public sector employers, the deadline is 30 March 2022 with a snapshot date of 31 March 2021
- for private sector employers and voluntary organisations, the deadline is 4 April 2022 with a snapshot date of 5 April 2021
Extra bank holiday
To celebrate the Queen’s platinum jubilee, there is an additional bank holiday in 2022. The May bank holiday weekend will be moved to Thursday 2 June and an additional bank holiday on Friday 3 June will give many people the opportunity to take a four-day weekend.
If employees are unable to take this bank holiday it should be dealt with as any other bank holiday would be.
If you would like any information on any of the above, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
