2020 brought several changes to employment law and 2021 looks to be no different, which most changes coming into effect in April 2021. We can assist businesses to look to the future and plan for the upcoming 2021 changes.
Effective from 1 January 2021, the free movement of persons ended as a result of Brexit. This means that all foreign national workers seeking to enter the UK to work will require a visa, the most common being the Skilled Worker visa. The Skilled Worker visa route requires the applicant to have an offer of employment from an approved sponsor with a valid sponsor licence. Employers should ensure they complete right to work checks and keep a record of completed checks on employee personal files.
rises to £8.91 and age of entitlement drops to 23 years old. This is likely to come into effect in early April 2021.
Statutory maternity pay, paternity pay, adoption pay, shared parental leave and parental bereavement pay increase from £151.20 to £151.97per week. Again, likely to come into effect in early April 2021.
Financial award for compensation for unfair dismissal – this will increase, although the new rate has not yet been announced. Currently, it is £88,519 or 52 weeks’ salary whichever is lower.
The basic award used to calculate statutory redundancy payments and the basic award for unfair dismissal will increase.
increases to £96.35. Men and women in each hourly pay quarter and the average gender pay gap using hourly pay
Due to having been implemented in April 2020. Changes to IR35 (the off-payroll tax legislation) were postponed to 6 April 2021.
From 6 April 2021, where a company engages self-employed contractors, providing their service through a service company (limited company), they will need to determine, whether, for the purposes of tax, they are considered an employee. If the contractor is considered an employee, for the purpose of tax, the company will be liable to deduct income tax and national insurance from the contractors’ fee in the same way they do from their employees’ wages. Companies who are unsure of the status of an individual can use the government online tools to ascertain whether they are considered an employee or not. This shall only affect companies with two of the following three:
Companies should review their consultant contracts to make their IR35 position clear.
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) was introduced on 23 March 2020 to provide employers support where their operations had been severely affected by Covid-19. Employees’ were placed on furlough leave and received a minimum of 80% of their salary, up to £2,500, per month. As the CJRS is due to end on 30 April 2021, employers may need to consider restructuring their organisation and potentially making redundancies in order to continue trading.
From 01 December, notice pay has not been allowed to run alongside furlough/use of the CJRS. Employers using the furlough scheme are being named by the HMRC.
The Government will make a payment to Employers who hire new apprentices between 01 August 2021 and 31 March 2021.
Employers will receive an additional £2000 for apprentices aged 16-24 years old and £1500 for every apprentice who is 25 or over. Qualifying employers can apply for an incentive payment until 30 April 2021.
If you would like to speak to an expert employment lawyer, please contact us via email at contact@davenportsolicitors.com or telephone on 02079036888.
