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Employment
National Minimum Wage Rates 2024
The National Minimum Wage (NMW) has increased.
| Age Category | To 31st March 2024 | From 1st April 2024 |
| 21 and over | - | £11.44 |
| 23 and over | £10.42 | - |
| 21 - 22 | £10.18 | - |
| 18 - 20 | £7.49 | £8.60 |
| Under 18 | £5.28 | £6.40 |
| Apprentice rate** | £5.28 | £6.40 |
**This rate is for apprentices under 19 or those in their first year. If you’re 19 or over and past your first year you get the rate that applies to your age.
Compensation Limits for 2024/25
The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2024 will take effect from the 6th April 2024. The Order applies to certain awards of Employment Tribunals and to other amounts payable under employment legislation.
The rates are:
The maximum amount of a 'week's pay' for the purpose of calculating a Redundancy Payment or for the basic or additional award of compensation for Unfair Dismissal claims or for payments to employees in the event of a company going into insolvency is £700.
The limit on the daily amount of Statutory Guarantee Payment is £35.00.
The standard weekly rate of SMP and the weekly rates of SPP, SAP and Maternity Allowance is £184.03.
The weekly rate of SSP is £116.75.
Driving and Mobile Phones Penalties
Following a Department for Transport (DfT) consultation expanding the offence of using a hand-held mobile phone while driving, new regulations came into force from March 25th 2022. The DfT has increased the penalties in 2019 of driviing whilst holding a mobile phone with a £200 fine and 6 [penalty points on the driver's licence, if convicted.
The enhanced regulations widens the scope of the offence to include 'any use' of a mobile telephone or interactive communication device held in the hand whilst driving.
These provision remove the requirement that the driver is actually using the mobile telephone or interactive communication device to perform an interactive communication function, meaning it will be an offence to simply illuminate the screen to 'check the time'.
An exemption has been inserted to that that a driver is not in contravention of that regulation where the hand-held mobile telephone or interactive communication device is being used to make a contactless payment at a contactless payment terminal.
Travelling and Subsistence 2024/2025
A copy of the Travelling and Subsistence letter 2024-2025 is available to download, please see below.
Drug Driving Law
New Drug Driving Legislation came into effect from 2nd March 2015, and only covered England and Wales.
The following link from the Department for Transport (DfT) summarises the legislation.