The President of the Employment Tribunals has issued the annual update to the Vento guidelines, setting out the bands of awards for injury to feelings, payable in cases of discrimination at work, adjusted for inflation. These updated figures, known as the Vento bands,  apply in respect of claims presented on or after 6 April 2026 and are: lower band: £1,300 to £12,600 (less serious cases) middle band: £12,600 to £37,700 upper band: £37,700 to £62,900 (the most serious cases)

Scarcely believable we know, but with less than a week to go, the Government has finally published the enabling regulations that confirm the Statutory Sick Pay changes coming into force on 6 th  April 2026. The Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 3 and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2026 remove any remaining uncertainty about what is changing and when - and for small employers, the time to act is now. What's Actually Changing? Three significant reforms take eff

Statutory Redundancy Pay, Tribunal Awards and the Reduction of the Qualifying Period for Unfair Dismissal claims. In addition to the previously published statutory pay increases for 2026 (refer to our Newsletter No 174), the annual increase in compensation limits have now been publicised. The limits apply to dismissals, including redundancies, occurring on or after 6 th  April 2026. £751.00 - the maximum amount of a week's pay for calculating statutory redundancy pay and the

The modern workplace includes people who think, communicate and behave in different ways. In reality, it probably always has done, but increasingly dissatisfied employees are looking to the Courts to redress perceived or real poor treatment at the hands of employers.  It is now estimated that 1 in 100 adults may be neurodivergent, yet only around 21.7% to 32% of autistic adults in the UK are in some form of paid employment, representing the lowest employment rate among all di

We all love a Public/Bank holiday, don’t we? Unless you are in the Payroll Department of course, when the holiday year is April to March, and Easter jumps around between April and March.  For the holiday year of April to March of 2026/27, the reality is that there are 2 sets of Easter Public/Bank holidays within the same holiday entitlement.  How do you deal with this? The Law on Public/Bank Holidays All employees are entitled to a set number of days off work each year by way

When this Government set out on their journey, they were ambitious in the scale of the changes they wanted to make to the employment relationship, but reassured us all that there would be lots of consultation. They said the same to the House of Lords. However, last week, they quietly released an update with potentially significant consequences for employers. With little fanfare, an Unfair Dismissal Factsheet was added to the Employment Rights Act 2025 webpage. It revealed two

Dear Rosalie One of our Line Managers was having some sort of session with one of his employees. She then came to see me to ask what he meant when he said she was a 'high maintenance tart'. I said I would try to find out and get back to her. I am not sure that I really want to know! I had to avoid laughing and to buy some time for a considered response. Rosalie replies: Unless you can think of a suitably bland interpretation or justify the assessment, then you may be in troub

Most employers are well aware that the Government is embarking on an ambitious series of reforms. These are aimed at rebalancing, in their eyes, the employment relationship. As part of these changes, from 1 st  December 2025, the ACAS Early Conciliation period has been formally extended from six to twelve weeks, following regulations laid before Parliament on 4 th November 2025. This change comes amid rising demand for conciliation services and growing delays - currently ave

There are some important changes to statutory rates of pay that the Government have already announced, to take effect in 2026. National Minimum/Living Wage Rate Increases & Accommodation Rate The National Living Wage is to rise by 4.1%. It will go from £12.21 to £12.71  per hour. At the same time, the National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates will be increased as follows: from £10.00 to £10.85  per hour for 18 to 20 year olds (an 8.7% increase); from £7.55 to £8.00  per hour for 16 &