What’s on the horizon and what are the employment law updates in 2022?
March 2022
Kickstart Scheme ends
The Kickstart scheme – which subsidises job placements for young people on universal credit will end in March 2022. However, applications for funding will close on 17th December but employers can spread the job start dates up until 31th March 2022.
April 2022
Rate Changes
The usual rate changes will apply to:
- The National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage.
- Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Paternity Pay, Shared Parental Pay, Adoption Pay, Maternity Allowance, and Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay
- Statutory Sick Pay
- The statutory cap on a weeks’ pay for the purposes of calculating the basic award and statutory redundancy pay.
Increase in national insurance contributions
One of the key employment law updates in 2022, as recently announced, is that National Insurance Contributions will increase by 1.25% from April 2022 for employers and employees to raise funds for social care and the NHS. This increase will apply to class 1 NICs paid by employees and class 4 NICs paid by self-employed workers. Class 2 self-employed NICs and class 3 NICs, which are voluntary payments made to top-up state pension gaps, are not impacted by the levy. The levy will also not be taken from pension income.
May 2022
From 11 January 2022, you’ll be able to claim £3,000 for apprentices who start between 1 October 2021 and 31 January 2022. The closing date for these applications is 15 May 2022.
New legislation confirmed
New legislation to ensure that tips and gratuities go to staff. This new legislation is intended to prevent employers from taking tips and gratuities that should go to staff and to eradicate poor tipping practices. It is expected to introduce this “at the earliest opportunity.”
Legislation that is expected but yet to be confirmed
New right for workers to request a more stable contract – As part of the government’s Good Work Plan, all workers will have the right to request a more predictable and stable contractual working pattern after 26 weeks’ continuous service. This is for the benefit of workers who may have irregular hours (such as a zero-hours contract) but require certainty on the number of hours they work and / or the days on which they work.
New pensions dashboard service introduced – The Pensions Schemes Act 2021 allows individuals (or persons appointed by them) to access online information about their pension, including state, personal and occupational pensions, via a pensions dashboard service, to help them plan for retirement.
