Employment Law Updates
April 2025
Are you keeping up to date with the changes to employment law coming this April to remain compliant and protect your organisation?
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We summarise the key changes taking effect in April 2025, as well as highlighting the changes we expect to see coming further down the line so you can ensure you can implement and prepare your business to manage risk and ensure you are compliant.
From 6th April 2025 a number of legislative updates will come into force:
Increase in Employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs)
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Employer NICs will increase by 1.2 percentage points, increasing from 13.8 to 15%
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The Secondary Threshold — the point at which employers start paying NICs for an employee — will reduce from £9,100 to £5,000 per annum
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It’s important to note however that the Employment Allowance will increase from £5,000 to £10,500 supporting smaller businesses and allowing them to offset NIC costs
As a business you need to be aware of the impact on your payroll but also your workforce planning going forwards.
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New Statutory Right to Paid Neonatal Care Leave
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A new statutory right to Neonatal Care Leave and Pay will come into force from April 2025, providing eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of paid leave if their baby requires neonatal care.
As a business you will need to update your parental leave policies.
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Increases to Employment Tribunal Compensation Limits
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Maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal will increase from £115,115 to £118,223 (upper limit remains the lower of a year’s salary or the maximum statutory limit)
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The cap on a ‘week’s pay’ used for calculating statutory redundancy pay and basic awards (e.g.for unfair dismissal) will rise from £700 to £719.
As a business you need to be aware of these increases so they can be taken into consideration when planning any changes to the workforce or managing any disputes.
There are other changes on the horizon over the next few months surrounding:
Collective Redundancy Consultation Adjustments - redundancies across multiple sites within 90 days will trigger collective consultation obligations rather than at just one establishment. This will need to be taken into account when planning any restructures.
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The controversial removal of the two-year qualifying period for Unfair Dismissal claims - the proposed Employment Rights Bill is looking to remove this requirement, replacing it with a statutory probationary period which is expected to be 9 months, after which employees will have immediate protection from unfair dismissal. Watch this space for more details. In the meantime, employers will need to ensure they have effective and robust performance management and probation review processes in place.
Changes to Zero-Hours Contracts and Stable Work Patterns – there will be a new right to request a contract with guaranteed hours from employees on zero hours contracts or other atypical working arrangements that reflect their actual working patterns over a 12-week reference period. Employers using zero-hours contracts need to be prepared to respond to an increased number of requests for stable working hours and comply with the updated framework.
Ethnicity and Disability Pay Gap Reporting - the proposed amendment to the Equality Act is introducing mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for businesses with 250 or more employees. This will align with the existing gender pay gap reporting obligations already in place.
Expansion of Protection Against Third-Party Harassment - Building on the increased employer obligations relating to sexual harassment, the Worker Protection Act 2024 will introduce an enhanced duty to prevent all types of harassment by third parties, including customers, suppliers, and contractors. Businesses will need to put into place robust anti-harassment policies and provide training to ensure compliance.
We are offering a free consultation to help you implement and prepare for these changes.
Get in touch below to set up some time for a chat.
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