Autumn Budget 2021 – key employment announcements
The Chancellor announced that the National Minimum Wage (NMW) will increase from 1 April 2022.
The National Living Wage (paid to workers aged 23 and over) will increase from £8.91 to £9.50.
Rates for the hourly NMW will increase:
• For 21-22 year olds - from £8.36 to £9.18
• For 18 - 20 year-olds - from £6.56 to £6.83
• For 16-17 year olds - from £4.62 to £4.81
• For apprentices - from £4.30 to £4.81.
The accommodation offset will increase from £8.36 to £8.70.
The Chancellor announced that the government intends to increase funding for apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024-25. That includes expanding the Lifetime Skills Guarantee and extending the apprentice hiring incentive of £3000 for apprentices with an employment start date between 1 October 2021 and 31 January 2022. Employers may make such applications from 11 January 2022 to 15 May 2022.
The government has also committed to a number of programmes to make the recruitment of apprentices more efficient and accessible for employers.
This includes:
• Enhancing the current recruitment service by May 2022
• Introducing an investment tool which demonstrates the benefits of apprentices to their businesses.
New financial incentives to attract ethnic minority teachers in Wales
The Welsh government has announced that it will introduce financial incentives to help recruit more ethnic minority teachers from 2022. This is part of a wider plan to focus on increasing diversity amongst applicants to Initial Teacher Education courses.
UK Settlement Scheme - 172,000 people have applied since the deadline
Free movement ended on 31 December 2020 and was followed by a six-month grace period. During this, relevant aspects of free movement law were saved to allow eligible EEA citizens and their family members resident in the UK by 31 December 2020 to apply to stay here under the EU Settlement Scheme. That period ended on 30 June 2021.
However, those EU citizens who didn’t apply for settled or pre-settled status by 30 June 2021 can still apply, providing they have a reasonable excuse for missing the deadline.
The Home Office has recently published its monthly statistics which show that over 172,000 people have applied since 30 June 2021. We don't know how many have been successful.
Just a reminder that if you employed an EU citizen before 30 June 2021 and have found out that they don't have settled or pre-settled status, you don't have to immediately dismiss them. Instead (and if you want to) you can advise the employee to make an application under the settlement scheme within 28 days and continue to employ them. There are a number of important steps that you must take which we explain in this article: what should you do if you discover that an existing employee hasn't applied for settled or pre-settled status?
End of SSP COVID-19 rebate scheme
The government brought the Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme to an end on Thursday 30 September 2021. If you're eligible for a rebate you have until Friday 31 December 2021 to apply via the online service.
To reclaim SSP you must:
• Have already paid your employee’s sick pay
• Have a PAYE payroll scheme that was created and started on or before Friday 28 February 2020
• Have had fewer than 250 employees on Friday 28 February 2020 across all your PAYE payroll schemes.
The scheme only allows you to recover up to two weeks SSP per employee and is payable from the first qualifying day the employee is off work, as the usual rules about ‘waiting days’ don't apply.
Gender pay gap ‘watchdog’ will pursue employers that miss the October 2021 deadline
Schools and colleges with 250 or more employees had to report their gender pay gap by Tuesday 5 October 2021.
To help organisations cope with the impact of the pandemic, enforcement for 2019/20 was suspended and enforcement for 2020/21 was pushed back from April to October 2021.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission, the body responsible for enforcing the requirements, has announced that it’ll begin enforcement action against employers failing to report by the extended deadline.
New tool for assessing ventilation and COVID-19 transmission
The Health and Safety Executive, in collaboration with the British Occupational Hygiene Society, has developed a free tool to help organisations assess general ventilation and COVID-19 transmission.
Only 8% of schools in England have received air monitors
According to a recent twitter poll of over 1,600 head teachers, 92% of schools hadn’t received CO2 monitors to warn them if the air quality in a room was unhealthy. The government has said that all schools should receive their monitors by the end of November 2021.
Infections in England highest in secondary school age children
Official estimates for England reveals that 9.14% of children in school years seven to eleven tested positive for COVID-19 in the week before half term.
Unvaccinated people 32 times more likely to die of COVID-19 in England
According to the Office for National Statistics, unvaccinated people in England are 32 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than those who have been fully vaccinated.
Self-isolation rules broken by one in five with COVID-19
Data collected between 27 September and 2 October 2021 reveal that 22% of people in England testing positive for COVID-19 say they have not followed all self-isolation rules. The Office for National Statistics says that people carried out at least one activity during self-isolation, including leaving their home or having visitors, in breach of COVID-19 regulations.
Bereavement Leave and Pay (Stillborn and Miscarried Babies) Bill
A Private Members Bill to extend entitlement to parental bereavement leave and pay to parents of babies miscarried or stillborn during early pregnancy received its first reading in the House of Commons on 19 October 2021. The Bill’s second reading is expected on 25 February 2022.
Read more – November 2021
For general enquiries
0808 291 3524
Or we can call you back at a time of your choice
Phone lines are open 24/7, 365 days a year
