Neo-natal care leave and pay

In our in January's edition we covered the expected introduction of neo-natal care leave and pay. The government has now confirmed that the necessary Regulations have been approved by both Houses of Parliament and will come into force on 6 April 2025. The Regulations will apply in England and Wales, and Scotland, to babies born on or after 6 April 2025. We have produced a guidance note to assist clients with this new area of law as well as a template neo-natal care leave and pay policy – if you are interested in either of these documents or require advice on this development please contact your usual DACB contact.

Changes to statutory payments and compensation limits

The annual changes to compensation limits and statutory payments take effect on 6 April 2025.

This will include an increase to the rate of payment for a range of statutory leave entitlements:

• Statutory maternity pay (after the first six weeks), statutory adoption pay (after the first six weeks), statutory paternity pay, statutory shared parental pay and statutory parental bereavement pay will increase on 6 April 2025 to £187.18 per week (from £184.03) or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower
• The same increase applies to maternity allowance from 7 April 2025
• Additionally, statutory sick pay will rise from £116.75 to £118.75 per week from 6 April 2025

There will also be an increase to the compensation limits and minimum awards that employment tribunals can make:

• The limit on the compensatory award for unfair dismissal will increase from £115,115 to £118,223
• The limit on a week’s pay for the purpose of calculating, among other things, statutory redundancy payments and the basic award for unfair dismissal will increase from £700 to £719
• The limit on the compensatory award for failure to allocate and pay tips fairly will increase from £5,000 to £5,135
• Guarantee pay will increase from £38 to £39 per day
• The minimum basic award in cases where a dismissal is unfair by virtue of certain health and safety, working time, employee representative, trade union, or occupational pension trustee reasons will increase from £8,533 to £8,763

These new rates take effect where the ‘appropriate date’ for the cause of action (such as the effective date of termination in an unfair dismissal claim) falls on or after 6 April 2025. Where the appropriate date falls before 6 April 2025, the old limits will still apply, irrespective of the date on which compensation is awarded.

Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2025

Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2025

Vento guidelines

On 27 March 2025, the Presidents of the Employment Tribunals in England and Wales and in Scotland issued the latest annual update for awards for injury to feelings and psychiatric injury in discrimination and detriment cases. These are referred to as the Vento bands and help tribunals determine appropriate compensation for non-financial harm. Injury to feelings awards are entirely discretionary and are usually made at some level in most successful discrimination claims:

• A lower band of £1,200 to £12,100 (increasing from £1,200 to £11,700) for less serious cases
• A middle band of £12,100 to £36,400 (increasing from £11,700 to £35,200) for cases which do not merit an award in the upper band
• An upper band of £36,400 to £60,700 (increasing from £35,200 to £58,700) for the most serious cases
• Amounts in excess of £60,700 can be awarded in the most exceptional cases

The new bands will apply to employment tribunal claims presented on or after 6 April 2025.