The National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage, as well as other statutory payments, have risen with effect from 1st April 2023.
Increases to statutory payments will need to be factored into financial plans for the coming tax year, and businesses need to take steps to ensure they are ready for these changes. We outline these changes below, and what employers need to think about in implementing these.
National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW)
| Age | Rate from 1 April 2023 |
| Workers aged 23 and over (NLW) | £10.42 |
| 21‒22-year-olds | £10.18 |
| 18‒20-year-olds | £7.49 |
| 16‒17-year-olds | £5.28 |
| Apprentices under 19, or over 19 and in the first year of the apprenticeship | £5.28 |
Employers must pay this increase on time. This means in the next “pay reference period” after the increase has taken effect, which may mean that pay does not increase for the individual until some way into April. The pay reference period is the period within which the pay is calculated. For example, if an employee gets paid monthly on the 15th, the old rate will continue to apply until the next pay reference period, beginning on 16 April. Therefore, the old rate remains in place between 1 and 15 April, and the new rate from 16 April.
Family-friendly statutory payments
Alongside minimum wage increases, there are also other increases that will take effect in April, including family-friendly payments, which from 2 April 2023 will increase to £172.48 from £156.66 (this includes maternity, adoption, paternity, shared parental and parental bereavement pay).
Statutory sick pay (SSP) and the lower earnings limit (LEL)
The LEL will remain the same, at £123. SSP will rise from 6 April 2023 from £99.35 to £109.40.
| Daily rates for SSP: 2023‒24 | ||||||||
| Unrounded daily rates | Number of qualifying days in week | 1 day to pay | 2 days to pay | 3 days to pay | 4 days to pay | 5 days to pay | 6 days to pay | 7 days to pay |
| £15.6285 | 7 | £15.63 | £31.26 | £46.89 | £62.52 | £78.15 | £93.78 | £109.40 |
| £18.2333 | 6 | £18.24 | £36.47 | £54.70 | £72.94 | £91.17 | £109.40 | |
| £21.88 | 5 | £21.88 | £43.76 | £65.64 | £87.52 | £109.40 | ||
| £27.35 | 4 | £27.35 | £54.70 | £82.05 | £109.40 | |||
| £36.4666 | 3 | £36.47 | £72.94 | £109.40 | ||||
| £54.70 | 2 | £54.70 | £109.40 | |||||
| £109.40 | 1 | £109.40 | ||||||
Statutory guarantee pay (SGP)
SGP is the payment made while an employee is laid off (asked not to work), and is a daily rate paid on any days where an employee is laid off, to a maximum of a normal working week, every 13 weeks. The daily rate from 6 April 2023 will be £35.
Key tribunal compensation limits
Leaving it later than what is usual, the Government finally announced the new compensation limit rates for 2023–24. The most important ones are below.
| Payments | From 6 April 2023 |
| Limit on a week’s pay for calculating a statutory redundancy payment and unfair dismissal basic award | £643 |
| Maximum basic award for unfair dismissal and statutory redundancy payment (30 weeks’ pay subject to the limit on a week’s pay) | £19,290 |
| Maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal — subject to a maximum cap of a year’s pay | £105,707 |
At Rebox HR, we ensure that our clients are fully compliant and kept in the know with changes to employment law as they happen.
