Increases in statutory payments due this Spring

A number of statutory payments are due to increase in April this year.

Statutory benefit payments

The Department for Work and Pensions has set out proposed increases to a number of statutory benefit payments. The following weekly rates are expected to apply from April 2020:

Statutory sick pay (SSP) – £95.85 (up from £94.25)
Statutory maternity pay (SMP) and maternity allowance – £151.20 (up from £148.68)
Statutory paternity pay (SPP) – £151.20 (up from £148.68)
Statutory shared parental pay (ShPP) – £151.20 (up from £148.68)
Statutory adoption pay (SAP) – £151.20 (up from £148.68)

The increase normally occurs on the first Sunday in April, which this year would be 5 April 2020.

National Minimum Wage

The National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage will rise from 1 April 2020. In what the Government has described as “the biggest cash increase ever”, the new rates will be:

Apprentice – £4.15 (up from £3.90)
Under 18 – £4.55 (up from £4.35)
18 to 20 – £6.45 (up from £6.15)
21 to 24 – £8.20 (up from £7.70)
National Living Wage for those aged 25 and over – £8.72 (up from £8.21)

The Government has announced that the new rate results in an increase of £930 over the year for a full-time worker on the National Living Wage and will give nearly three million people a “well-earned pay rise”. The Government reports that this rise means it is on track to meet its current target for the National Living Wage to reach 60% of median earnings by 2020.

Comment

We reported at the end of last year on the Government’s intention to implement measures to increase the National Living Wage. According to the background briefing notes to the Queen’s Speech in December 2019, the National Living Wage will reach around a projected £10.50 per hour in 2024, provided economic conditions allow.

The Government also plans to extend the National Living Wage, which currently applies to people over the age of 25, to those aged 23 and over from April 2021; and to those aged 21 and over within 5 years. This is expected to benefit around 4 million low paid workers.

16 January 2020

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