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Statutory Payments

The below details current statutory rates as well as some forthcoming increases:

Current Rates

Statutory Entitlement	Rate per week	Comments
Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) and Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP)	£123.06	payable for 39 weeks - initial 6 weeks at 90% of average weekly earnings; thereafter average weekly earnings or statutory rate whichever is less
Paternity/Partner’s Pay (SPP)	£123.06	payable for up to 2 weeks at 90% of average weekly earnings or statutory rate, whichever is less
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)	£79.15	although normally the first 3 days are unpaid

Increases from 01 July 2009

Mileage allowances where you use a company vehicle (petrol-hybrid cars are treated as petrol cars) are:

Company Cars	Up to 1400 cc	1401-2000 cc	Over 2000 cc
Petrol	10p	12p	18p
Diesel	10p	10p	13p
Gas	7p	8p	12p

Increases from 01 October 2009

The new hourly rates for the National Minimum Wage (NMW) are increased as follows:

Age	Old NMW	Increased NMW
Workers aged 22 and over	£5.73	£5.80
Workers aged 18 – 21	£4.73	£4.83
Workers aged 16 and 17	£3.53	£3.57

The rate of Statutory Redundancy Pay (SRP) increases from £350 to £380.
SRP is calculated as a week’s pay for each full year of service up to the maximum value, but is also adjusted based on age and length of service as follows:

Age	For each year of service
Under 22 years	0.5 week’s pay
22 to 40 years	1.0 week’s pay
Over 41 years	1.5 week’s pay

Note: The maximum amount payable becomes £10,500 but this does not include any additional entitlement the employee may have for notice or holidays due.

For SMP/SAP/SPP it’s important that employees meet the qualifying conditions, such as length of service, time limits, medical evidence of pregnancy etc as outlined in your company policies.

For any questions you have on how to apply the above or any other general employment advice or guidance, then please call the advice line on 0800 980 7377.

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Swine Flu Pandemic

With the World Health Organisation (WHO) having declared Swine Flu as a pandemic, there are considerations from a health and safety perspective, ensuring provision of a safe working environment (including protecting employees from outbreaks of contagious diseases in the workplace); and the need for employees to feel valued by their employer when fears over their health, ability to get to work, or issues with their children may get in the way. It is therefore important to consider what contingency plans you should have in place should the situation deteriorate.

Some initial sensible precautions include:

Advising unwell employees to seek medical advice and to stay away from work.
Remind employees of the absence reporting procedure to ensure that they report their illness at the earliest opportunity
Postpone face to face meetings, training courses and unnecessary travel and social events.

You should also give some consideration to the following points:

How will the business continue to function with a reduced staff?
How will you manage working hours and overtime where employees have agreed to cover absent employees.
How and when will employees be permitted to work from home to avoid workplace infection – and if this is not an option, how will you deal with employees being excluded from an infected workplace?
How will you deal with employees who are refusing to attend work because of the risk of general infection?
How will you deal with employees whose dependants fall ill with swine flu or where their children’s school is closed to contain an infection?
What type of sick pay will your company pay to absent employees?

Some of these points may already be covered in your contract of employment, such as enforced holiday or lay-offs – if not seeking agreement from employees to short term changes in their terms and conditions to deal with such an emergency may be worth exploring.

Contingency planning requires you to consider the needs of both your business and employees and consulting with them before deciding on a policy.

If you have any questions or concerns on how to develop a contingency plan for your organisation, then please call the advice line on 0800 980 7377