HR Hub

A summary of the changes taking place in April 2025 which will affect the HR and payroll function:

• National Minimum Wage: new rates take effect from 1 April 2025. The National Living Wage will rise from £11.44 to £12.21 per hour, continuing to apply to workers aged 21 and over. There will also be a record increase in the rate for workers aged 18-20, from £8.60 to £10.00 per hour. Read more.
• Tribunal compensation limits: from 6 April, there is a new limit on a week’s pay, for the purposes of calculating redundancy and compensation for unfair dismissal awards, of £719 and the maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal increases to £118,223 (from £115,115). Read more.
• National Insurance Contributions: Employer NICs rise to 15% of employee earnings (up from 13.8%) and the threshold at which employers start paying employer NICs on a worker’s earnings decreases from £9,100 to £5,000 per year. The employment allowance will be raised to £10,500.
• Neonatal leave and pay: new rights will give parents of babies born on or after 6 April up to 12 weeks’ leave and pay when their baby needs specialist neonatal care for at least seven continuous days within the first 28 days of birth. While neonatal leave will be a Day 1 right, parents will need 26 weeks’ continuous service to qualify for neonatal care pay. Read more.
• Parental payments: the weekly rate that will apply from 7 April 2025 to statutory maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption and bereavement pay is £187.18. The earnings threshold for these payments increases to £125 a week. Small employers (those who pay less than £45,000 in Class 1 NICs) will be able to recover 108.5% of these statutory payments. SSP rises to £118.75 per week, with the lower earnings threshold that must be met to be eligible for these payments rising to £125 a week. Read more.