LONDON ASSOCIATION OF FUNERAL DIRECTORS

LONDON ASSOCIATION OF FUNERAL DIRECTORS

Representing Funeral Directors & Associated Businesses in London & the Home Counties

Executive Committee member Simon Truelove provided a report to the meeting:

National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage
The NLW and NMW rates from 1 April 2022 are:

Rate from April 2022 Current rate
(April 2021 to March 2022)
Increase
National Living Wage £9.50 £8.91 6.6%
21-22 Year Old Rate £9.18 £8.36 9.8%
18-20 Year Old Rate £6.83 £6.56 4.1%
16-17 Year Old Rate £4.81 £4.62 4.1%
Apprentice Rate £4.81 £4.30 11.9%
Accommodation Offset £8.70 £8.36 4.1%

Statutory Pay Rates
The government have not announced the rates which will apply from April next year yet, but these are the current rates:

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) from 6th April 2021
Weekly rate of £96.35. The same weekly SSP rate applies to all employees. However, the amount you must actually pay an employee for each day they’re off work due to illness (the daily rate) depends on the number of ‘qualifying days’ they work each week.
You can use the SSP calculator on www.gov.uk to work out your employee’s sick pay.

Statutory Maternity, Paternity, Adoption, Shared Parental and Parental Bereavement Pay from 4th April 2021
Type of payment 2021 to 2022 rate

Statutory Maternity Pay ( SMP) and Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) weekly rate for first 6 weeks 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings

Statutory Maternity Pay ( SMP) and Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) weekly rate for remaining weeks £151.97 or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower

Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) and Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) – weekly rate £151.97 or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower

Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP) – weekly rate £151.97 or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower

Proportion of the above payments you can claim back from HMRC
92% if your total Class 1 National Insurance (both employee and employer contributions) is above £45,000 for the previous tax year   103% if your total Class 1 National Insurance for the previous tax year is £45,000 or lower

Use the calculator at www.gov.uk to calculate your employee’s Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), paternity pay, adoption pay, relevant employment period, average weekly earnings and leave period.

Employment Tribunals
Increase to tribunal awards
For dismissals taking place since 6 April, the maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal has increased to £89,493 (or 52 weeks’ pay, whichever is the lower).  The statutory limit on a gross weeks’ pay has also increased to £544. This means that the maximum statutory redundancy payment is now £16,320.

The bands of awards for injury to feelings in discrimination cases (known as the Vento bands) have also increased for claims presented on or after 6 April 2021.  The lower band for less serious cases is now £900 – £9,100, the middle band for cases that do not merit an award in the upper band is £9,100 – £27,400. The upper band for the most serious cases is £27,400 – £45,600.  Only the most exceptional cases will be capable of exceeding £45,600.

Roadmap
The Presidents of the Employment Tribunals in England and Wales released a roadmap in March 2021, which sets out the arrangements for listing new cases over the next few years in the employment tribunals.  The roadmap confirms that the majority of cases will continue to be heard remotely as the default position, although this will vary from region to region and depending on the type of claim.  A new ‘virtual region’ was launched in April 2021 in England and Wales to hear cases generated across all regions to deal with a backlog of cases.  Other measures introduced by the tribunal include the appointment of 16 new legal officers, who are authorised to deal with matters falling within delegated powers, and the introduction of a new case management system to increase efficiency.

Acas early conciliation
There have been some changes to the Acas early conciliation process.  From 1 December 2020, the standard early conciliation period has been extended from one month to six weeks.  The rules have also been amended to allow Acas conciliators to contact claimants to correct any errors on the early conciliation form during the conciliation period.

With thanks to Brachers for their assistance in compiling this report