Awarding pay increases during Statutory Maternity Leave
At the time of writing, the BBC have recently reported that according to latest office figures, the UK’s population has increased by nearly half a million last year (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33266792). Just over half of the growth was accounted for by natural change i.e. there were 212,100 more births than deaths. That’s a lot of maternity leave!
And that led me to wonder how many SME employees are familiar with the legislation around awarding pay awards during maternity leave and in particular the implications of the now ten year old judgement in Alabaster v The Woolwich plc………Simply put, this case established that a pay rise can not be withheld when an employee is on maternity leave.
Employment Allowance
If you’re an employer, you are likely to have received a letter from David Cameron telling you about the £2,000 allowance available to employers from 6th April 2014 for the 2014/15 tax year that can be offset against Employer’s National Insurance. This allowance is also available for 2015/16 as well and has been introduced to support employers with their employment costs which in turn leads to promoting growth in the economy. Happy Days.
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