Starting from April 2024, changes to National Minimum Wage and holiday pay will come into force, as well as changes to the ways in which flexible working and paternity leave should be dealt with. Companies should ensure that their Staff Handbooks and policies are up to date with the latest changes.

National Minimum Wage

From 1st April 2024, National Living Wage is due to be extended to apply to anyone over the age of 21, whereas it previously only applied to individuals over the age of 23. Furthermore, National Minimum Wage is due to increase by 9.8% in relation to the National Living Wage, and the Apprenticeship Rate and 16-17 Year Old Rate is due to increase by 21.2%.

The new National Minimum Wage rates from 1st April 2024 are as follows:

National Living Wage (Age 21+): £11.44

18-20 years old: £8.60

16-17 years old: £6.40

Apprentice rate: £6.40

Accommodation offset: £9.99

Holiday Pay

Starting from holiday years commencing after 1st April 2024, “Rolling up” holiday pay will be permitted under the Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023/1426. “Rolling up” is where a company pays irregular hours workers their accrued holiday pay “rolled up” with their monthly pay. Therefore, employers will now be entitled to calculate the holiday accrued by workers who work part of the year or irregular hours on the basis of 12.07% of their pay.

Additionally, the definition of a week’s pay under the EU holiday entitlement has been amended to expressly include regular payments linked to employment such as commission, bonus, or regular overtime payments.

Flexible Working

From 6th April 2024, employees will be entitled to bring up to two flexible working requests within a 12 month period; this right will be available to employees from the first day of their employment.

Furthermore, the employer will be required to provide their response within 2 months, rather than 3 months as previously allowed. If an employer decides to refuse the request then they can only do so following a consultation with the employee, and can refuse the request on the following grounds:

• extra costs that will damage the business;
• the work cannot be reorganised among other staff;
• people cannot be recruited to do the work;
• flexible working will affect quality and performance;
• the business will not be able to meet customer demand;
• there’s a lack of work to do during the proposed working times; or
• the business is planning changes to the workforce.

Paternity Leave

The Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 will come into force in relation to children whose expected week of childbirth or adoption is after 6th April 2024.

The regulations will allow fathers to take paternity leave at any time within the first 12 months after the birth or adoption of their child, and to allow the leave which can now be taken either in one block of two weeks or two non-consecutive blocks of one week. The employee will need to give 28 days’ notice of each period of leave.

Next Steps

If you would like to speak to someone about any Employment Law queries or would like assistance in reviewing and updating company policies, please contact either Jason Alcock or Victoria Ramshaw in our Employment and Dispute Resolution Team on 01543 267 238 or by email to jalcock@ansons.law or vramshaw@ansons.law.

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