The Government has announced that there will be no annual increase in
various types of statutory pay in 2016.
Statutory maternity and paternity pay, shared parental pay and adoption
pay will see no rise from the current rate of £139.58 or 90% of an employee’s
average weekly earnings if this amount is less than the statutory rate. The rate of
statutory sick pay has also been frozen at the current weekly rate of £88.45.
There is no statutory requirement to increase statutory pay rates
annually, but they do normally go up every April so that they rise alongside
the consumer price index (CPI). However, the fact that the CPI actually dropped
in the year leading up to September 2015 by 0.1 per cent prompted the freeze
for the 2017-2017 period.
Employers are usually able to claim
back 92 per cent of employees’ statutory maternity pay, paternity pay, adoption
pay and shared parental pay.
To be entitled to statutory payments, an
employee’s average earnings must be equal to or more than the lower earnings
limit, which has also been frozen at £112.
Useful Statutory Pay Guides for Employers
You may find the following Government
guides to statutory pay useful:
Statutory Sick Pay:
Maternity Pay & Leave:
Paternity Pay & Leave:
Adoption Pay & Leave:
Shared Parental Leave & Pay:
Additional Parental Pay & Leave:
If you are in need of any advice, you
should talk to your bookkeepers. They will be able to guide you through how
statutory pay works, and will help you forecast ahead if you have staff taking
leave in the near future.
