10 May 2025
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Business psychology consultant Pearn Kandola has undertaken a study on age discrimination in UK workplaces highlighting its prevalence and impact across age groups.
The report’s findings include:
Under statutory instruments 2025, the rate of statutory sick pay will increase from £116.75 to £118.75 per week with effect from 6 April 2025. The rates of statutory maternity pay, statutory paternity pay, statutory adoption pay, statutory shared parental pay and statutory parental bereavement pay will increase from £184.03 to £187.18 per week with effect from 6 April 2025; and the rate of maternity allowance will increase from £184.03 to £187.18 per week with effect from 7 April 2025.
In East Lancashire NHS Trust versus Akram, the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) has followed the approach set out by the Supreme Court in Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland versus Agnew on how to calculate a day’s pay for holiday pay purposes.
It explained a person should receive no less when on holiday than they would receive when working; the employment tribunal must, in accordance with the Working Time Regulations 1998, calculate the correct weekly pay. After this calculation is made, the EAT is then in a position to calculate daily or hourly pay by reference to the actual wages that would be earned in the relevant period worked.
The EAT also provided a worked example based on a worker working four days a week. It explained if the employer decided to divide the weekly pay by the seven calendar days rather than the four working days, for the worker to be paid the correct amount they would have to be paid for both days they would have worked in the week as well as days that they would not have worked.
While the EAT’s decision does not dictate the use of working days only, the worked example does illustrate why this is likely to be much easier for an employer to apply in practice.
In a written statement made by Torsten Bell MP, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has concluded its annual statutory review of the automatic enrolment (AE) thresholds for the 2025 to 2026 financial year. DWP has confirmed all AE thresholds for 2025-2026 will be maintained at their 2024-2025 levels. This decision aims to ensure the continued stability of AE for both employers and individuals. The AE earnings trigger will remain at £10,000, the lower earnings limit of the qualifying earnings band will remain at £6,240, while the upper earnings limit of the qualifying earnings band will remain at £50,270. The review focused on supporting individuals for whom pension saving is economically viable, while also considering affordability for employers and taxpayers.
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has launched the Fair Payment Code to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and foster economic growth.
The DBT’s code, overseen by the small business commissioner, features a gold, silver, and bronze-tiered system to reward best payment practices and tackle late payments to SMEs, aiming to improve cash flow.
