Minimum wage & new maternity laws

1^st October 2008 sees the customary increases in the minimum wage. The current normal rate applying to all employees 22 and over increases from £5.52 to £5.73, the 18 to 21 year old rate increases from £4.60 to £4.77 and the rate for 16 & 17 year olds increases from the current £3.40 per hour to £3.53.

From the 5th October the distinction between Ordinary Maternity Leave (OML) and Additional Maternity Leave (AML) is removed and whereas previously it was legal to suspend certain contractual benefits during AML, it is now illegal to do so.  Currently only 39 weeks of maternity leave is paid (subject to certain qualifying factors), the first 6 weeks at 90% earnings, the remaining 33 at Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) (or 90% if this is lower). All women, regardless of service are entitled to 52 weeks maternity leave, and it is illegal to discriminate on grounds of pregnancy & maternity.

You are advised to review and replace your maternity leave policy immediately.  A revised version has been placed in our products section.

Myhrdept.co.uk customers should note that they do not need to issue new contracts of employment to their employees in October as a result of the NMW increase.  The change should however be confirmed in writing and this link will take you through to a suitable letter for this purpose.  To save time (for annual subscribers), the letter can be produced for all affected employees in one go – simply tick the boxes next to all applicable employee names in ‘my employees’ BEFORE generating the letter, and myhrdept will mail merge the details and produce all of the letters in one pdf document.

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