Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, has announced an increase in the proposed rates of statutory payments for 2010.
The earnings threshold for statutory adoption, maternity, paternity and sick pay will rise from £95.00 to £97.00 per week.
The statutory adoption, maternity and paternity allowance will all rise from £123.06 to £124.88 per week. Statutory sick pay will remain at £79.15 per week. It is expected that these changes will come into effect in April 2010.
In contrast to this increase, and in response to the decrease of 1.4% in the Retail Price Index (RPI), the publication of the Employment Rights (Revision of Limits) Order 2009 will see a decrease in maximum compensation levels that can be awarded by Employment Tribunals.
The revised limits that will take effect when the event giving rise to the compensation occurs on or after 1 February 2010 are as follows:-
- The maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissals falls from £66,200 to £65,300. This is the first time that the unfair dismissal compensatory award cap has gone down. The cap has come a long way since October 1999 when it was just £12,000!
- The minimum amount of compensation, where an individual is unlawfully excluded or expelled from a union and not admitted or re-admitted by the date of a tribunal application, falls from £7,300 to £7,200.
- The maximum guarantee payment payable to an employee in respect of any day under s.31(1) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (where the employer cannot provide work to the employee on that day) falls from £21.50 to £21.20.
- The cap for a week's pay (used for example in statutory redundancy calculations) will remain at £380.
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