Employment changes from April 2025
Employment changes that businesses should be expecting, but nevertheless it is important to make sure that have been implemented, and where relevant, policies and procedures updated.
National Minimum Wage
Increases to the national minimum wage come into force on 1 April 2025, with National Living Wage (for those aged 21 and over) up £0.77 to £12.21. For 18-20 year olds, the increase is £1.40 to £10.00 per hour; for 16-17 year olds the increase is £1.15 to £7.55 per hour.
Employers will of course be aware that National Insurance will be rising from 6 April 2025:
- Employer’s National Insurance increases to 15% (from 13.8%)
- The ‘secondary threshold’ - the level at which businesses start paying NI on each employee’s salary - reduces to £5,000 (from £9,100 per year).
- The Employment Allowance increases to £10,500 (from £5,000) and the current £100,000 cap is removed, therefore extending it to all eligible employers.
Statutory Sick Pay / Statutory Parental Leave Pay
From 6 April, statutory sick pay (SSP) increases to £118.75 per week (up £2, from £116.75) and from 7 April, statutory maternity, paternity, adoption, shared-parental, and parental bereavement pay all increases £187.18 per week (up £3.15 from £184.03). The lower earnings limit increases to £125.
Neonatal Care
The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 comes into force on 6 April 2025, giving employees, in addition to existing parental leave rights, a new right of up to 12 weeks’ leave and statutory pay when a baby they have responsibility for is in hospital receiving neonatal care.
Of course, wages are not the only increases that businesses will be facing; even the price of a first-class stamp increases from 7 April to £1.70 (an increase of 5p, or 3%) The second-class service increases by 2p, or 2.4%, to 87p.
Please contact Jessica Jones on jones@ortolan.com for more information.
Posted on 03/12/2025 by Ortolan
