New legislation for April 2011

5 April 2011

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The start of April can mean only one thing; another commencement date and the introduction of many new pieces of business legislation that you should be aware of, plus changes to some pay limits. Read on to ensure your business is up to date with all the latest legislation changes.

With effect from Sunday 3 April 2011, the following changes were introduced:

Statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay

The standard rate of statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay increases from £124.88 to £128.73.

Additional paternity leave and pay

Employees who are fathers, or spouses or partners of mothers, and employees who have been matched for adoption and are spouses or partners of the person taking adoption leave are entitled to take additional paternity leave of up to 26 weeks in the first year of their child's life or the first year after the child's placement for adoption, and may be entitled to additional paternity pay.

Additional paternity leave has effect in relation to children whose expected week of birth is on or after 3 April 2011, or who are matched for adoption with a person who is notified of the match or on after 3 April 2011.

With effect from 6 April 2011, the following changes will be introduced:

Social Security (Contributions) (Amendment No.2) Regulations 2011

The Regulations amend the lower and upper earnings limits for primary class 1 national insurance contributions and the primary and secondary thresholds for primary and secondary Class 1 contributions for the tax year beginning 6th April 2011.

Default retirement age

Under the Employment Equality (Repeal of Retirement Age Provisions) Regulations 2011, from this date, employers are prohibited from issuing new notifications of retirement using the default retirement age and the statutory retirement procedure is abolished. Employers who wish to prescribe a compulsory retirement age may do so only if it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. A transitional period applies to notifications of retirement issued on or before 5 April 2011 where the employee reaches the age of 65 on or before 30 September 2011. Employers may no longer prohibit job applicants from applying for a job if they are aged 65 or over, or are within six months of the age of 65.

Statutory sick pay increase

The standard rate of statutory sick pay increases from £79.15 to £81.60 per week.

Positive action provisions of the Equality Act

The provisions of Section 159 of the Equality Act 2010, which permit employers to treat individuals with a protected characteristic more favourably than others in connection with recruitment or promotion, comes into force. This applies only to candidates of equal merit and the more favourable treatment must enable or encourage an individual to overcome or minimise a disadvantage, or participate in an activity where he or she is under-represented in that activity.