Employment law timeline 2021

New immigration requirements 

End of free movement of workers following Brexit. From 1 January 2021 anyone from outside the UK and Ireland (including all EU nationals) will require a visa if they want to work in the UK. Employers will need to hold a sponsor licence in order to sponsor employees for these purposes. 

Link to briefing

Gender pay gap reporting for public sector employers

Public sector employers to report before this date (with a snapshot date of 31 March 2020).

FCA Conduct Rules

The FCA Conduct Rules come into force for all staff at solo-regulated FCA firms.

Link to video

National minimum wage

National Living Wage is extended to workers aged 23 and over and increases to £8.91 per hour. The national minimum wage increases:

• from £8.20 to £8.36 for 21 to 22 year olds
• from £6.45 to £6.56 for 18 to 20 year olds
• from £4.55 to £4.62 for 16 and 17 year olds
• from £4.15 to £4.30 for apprentices.

Gender pay gap reporting for private sector employers

Private sector employers to report before this date (with a snapshot date of 5 April 2020).

New statutory rates

Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP), Shared Parental Pay (ShPP), Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) and Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP) increase to £151.97.

Statutory sick pay (SSP)

SSP increases to £96.35.

Maximum compensatory award

The maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal increases to £89,493 (from £88,519) where the effective date of termination is on or after 6 April 2021.

A week’s pay

The maximum amount of a week’s pay (used to calculate statutory redundancy payments) increases to £544 (from £538) where the effective date of termination is on or after 6 April 2021.

IR35

Off payroll working to be extended to large and medium sized private sector employers.

Link to briefing

PENP

Changes to the formula for Post-Employment Notice Pay (PENP) come into force for calculations where an employee’s pay period is defined in months, but their contractual notice period or post-employment notice period is not a whole number of months.

Link to policy paper

EU Settlement Scheme

Deadline for EU citizens and their families who arrived in the UK before 11pm on 31 December 2020 to make an application under the EU Settlement Scheme in order to retain the right live and work in the UK.

Link to briefing

The Coronavirus Job Retention (Furlough) Scheme

Government grant for Furlough scheme reduces and employers must begin to contribute 10% of furlough pay for unworked hours.

Link to briefing

The Coronavirus Job Retention (Furlough) Scheme

Government grant for Furlough scheme reduces and employers must contribute 20% of furlough pay for unworked hours.

The Coronavirus Job Retention (Furlough) Scheme

Furlough Scheme ends.

Link to briefing

Gender pay gap reporting

Enforcement action against employers (public, private and voluntary) who fail to report their gender pay gap information for the 2020/21 year starts.