Hot Topics Employment Law Updates – April 2025
As we have done in the past, we just wanted to say, that our usual cheery tone of our blogs, will be replaced by a more serious tone for this one, due to it being such an important and heavyweight topic
As you will be aware several major changes to employment law are planned to be introduced during this year and we are waiting to hear more details on many of them. However, one of these changes concerns the introduction of Neonatal Care Leave and Pay, which has been confirmed. We are talking about this one first in some detail, then we mention the recently applied statutory rates, so you have them to hand.
Neonatal Care Leave and Pay
This is a new employment right designed to support parents of babies who require neonatal (specialist) care after birth. This leave allows parents to take additional time off work if their baby is admitted to a neonatal unit. Neonatal Care Leave and Pay applies to employees only: it does not apply to self-employed contractors or to workers.
Neonatal Care Leave allows eligible working parents to take time off work to care for their baby who is receiving neonatal care soon after birth. The leave is a Day-0ne right and so there is no continuous service qualification in respect of children born on or after 6th April 2025.
Leave of up to 12 weeks will be available to parents whose baby is admitted into hospital for a minimum continuous period of seven full days in the first 28 days after the day the child was born.
This leave is in addition to other statutory family leave, including maternity and paternity leave. Parents will be able to take this leave after their period of maternity, adoption or paternity leave has finished in the period up to 68 weeks after the child’s birth.
Statutory Neonatal Care Pay will also be available to those employees who meet the eligibility criteria for Statutory Maternity Pay and Statutory Paternity Pay.
Further regulations and details have now been published and importantly a definition of neonatal care has been defined as follows:
- Medical care received in a hospital, or
- Medical care in any other place:
-
- If the child had been an inpatient in hospital and the care is received upon the child leaving hospital
-
- The care is provided under the direction of a consultant
-
- The care includes ongoing monitoring by, and visits to the child from healthcare professionals arranged by the hospital
- Palliative or end of life care.
Other Changes
Here at Spotlight HR we are keeping a close watch on developments and will be informing you of the changes once they are agreed by Parliament and the action that you need to take.
We are receiving a number of questions about whether employment documentation should be updated in advance of implementation. Until the detail has been approved by Parliament it is too early to update the documentation and we advise that you do not update your documentation, including staff handbooks, until the detail of the changes is announced.
April also sees the change in the rates of statutory payments. The table below shows some of the new rates that come into effect from 6th April 2025.
Family-Friendly Payments
Payments From 7 April 2024 From 6 April 2025
Statutory Shared Parental Pay (SSPP)
Statutory rate or 90% of employee’s weekly
earnings if this is lower. £184.03 £187.18
Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)
First six weeks — 90% of employee’s average
weekly earnings. Remaining weeks at the £184.03 £187.18
statutory rate or 90% of employee’s weekly
earnings if this is lower.
Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP)
First six weeks — 90% of employee’s average
weekly earnings. Remaining weeks at the £184.03 £187.18
statutory rate or 90% of employee’s weekly
earnings if this is lower.
Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP)
Statutory rate or 90% of employee’s weekly
earnings if this is lower. £184.03 £187.18
Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP)
Statutory rate or 90% of employee’s weekly earnings
if this is lower. £184.03 £187.18
Statutory Neonatal Care Pay (SNCP)
Statutory rate or 90% of employee’s weekly
earnings if this is lower.
For eligible parents of babies born on, or after, N/A £187.18
6 April 2025 in receipt of specified neonatal care.
Statutory Sick Pay
Payment From 7 April 2024 From 6 April 2025
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) £116.75 £118.75
Lower earnings limit (per week) £123 £125
National Minimum Wage
Age Rate From 1 April 2024 Rate From 1 April 2025
NLW for workers aged 21 and over £11.44 £12.21
NMW for workers aged 18‒20 £8.60 £10
Young workers rate for workers aged 16‒17 £6.40 £7.55
Apprentices under 19, or over 19 and in the
first year of the apprenticeship £6.40 £7.55
Accommodation offset (daily) £9.99 £10.66
Accommodation offset (weekly) £69.93 £74.62
Rate from 6 April 2024 Rate from 6 April 2025
Limit on a week’s pay for calculating
redundancy and unfair dismissal basic award £700 £719
Please do not hesitate to contact us for any employment advice that you may need.