At the start of each tax year, new employment law and labour relations values are published, effective 06 April in Great Britain.
At the start of each tax year, new employment law and labour relations values are published, effective 06 April. These set the values for things such as:
- The daily amount of guarantee payments;
- The value of ‘a week’s pay’ (for redundancy and insolvencies);
- The maximum compensatory awards for failing to allocate and pay tips fairly; and
- The maximum compensatory award in unfair dismissal claims
It’s just another thing that we need to be aware of, complicated by the fact that employment law and labour relations are devolved to Northern Ireland. This means that we must consider two sets of rates:
- Great Britain – for payments and awards arising from provisions under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 and / or the Employment Rights Act 1996
- Northern Ireland - for payments and awards arising from provisions under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 and / or the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996
We have the Great British information and ICB details this below, comparing the 2025/26 values (in red) to those applying in tax year 2024/25, a per The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2025:
|
Subject of Payment / Award and Limit Effective:
|
06 April 2024
|
06 April 2025
|
|
Award for unlawful inducement relating to union membership or activities, or to collective bargaining (1992 Act)
|
£5,584
|
£5,735
|
|
Minimum basic award for unfair dismissal or selection for redundancy on grounds related to union membership or activities (1992 Act)
|
£8,533
|
£8,763
|
|
Minimum compensation awarded for exclusion or expulsion from a trade union (1992 Act)
|
£13,032
|
£13,384
|
|
Maximum amount of award for failure to allocate and pay tips fairly
|
£5,000
|
£5,135
|
|
Maximum amount of award for failure to have a written policy on dealing with qualifying tips, gratuities and service charges and / or recordkeeping
|
£5,000
|
£5,135
|
|
Limit on daily amount of guarantee payment (1996 Act)
|
£38
|
£39
|
|
Minimum amount of basic award of compensation where dismissal is unfair by virtue of sections 100(1)(a) and (b), 101A(d), 102(1) or 103 (1996 Act)
|
£8,533
|
£8,763
|
|
Limit on amount of compensatory award for unfair dismissal (1996 Act)
|
£115,115
|
£118,223
|
|
Maximum weekly amount paid from National Insurance Fund to pay contractual debts owed on the insolvency of the employer (1996 Act)
|
£700
|
£719
|
|
Maximum weekly amount of a basic or additional award of compensation for unfair dismissal or redundancy payment (1996 Act)
|
£700
|
£719
|
For Bookkeepers
With the wide range of information bookkeepers are expected to be aware of, this is another set of rates! However, it is only three you should be aware of:
- The daily guarantee payment (the maximum of £39 per day) that are payments an employer might ask you to make when they have to lay-off employees for a period of time, say due to the employer requirement for short-time working;
- The maximum value of a week’s pay (£719) in statutory redundancy cases; and
- Maximum compensation award amounts (£5,135) where the employer fails to allocate tips fairly and / or fails to keep a written policy and recordkeeping
The other payments are awarded by employment tribunals or the National Insurance Fund where the employer claims insolvency (and cannot make the statutory redundancy payment themselves).
