This is the minimum pay per hour that most workers aged 21 and over are entitled to receive by law. There are also specific rates for those under the age of 21, as well as for apprentices.
You can review further guidance from the government on who exactly is eligible for minimum wage here.
The new rates apply from 1st April 2026, as laid out below:
You can use the National Minimum Wage calculator here to check if you’re paying the correct amount to your staff.
If you need to make any statutory redundancy payments (SRP), SRP is calculated on a weekly basis and a cap is applied where the weekly salary is more than the cap. The amount of the SRP cap has been increased to a weekly amount of £751.00. SRP is calculated based on an individual’s age and length of service and will therefore differ from person to person.
These rates apply to employees who are parents or soon to become parents.
The new rates came into effect from the 6th April 2026, except for the Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) rate, which applied from 5th April 2026.
For Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) and Statutory Shared Parental Leave Pay (ShPP), the weekly rate for the first 6 weeks will be 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, thereafter up to week 39 statutory rates apply.
For all other rates listed below, the new weekly rate (applicable for payments from 5th/6th April onwards) is £194.32 or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings (whichever is lower):
These rates are reviewed annually, so it’s important to ensure payroll systems are updated in line with the latest thresholds.
Employers can recover a proportion of their payments back from HMRC for SMP, SPP, ShPP, SAP, SPBP or SNCP.
The new recovery rate for 2026 to 2027 is:
It is not possible to recover Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) – see new rates for this below.
The weekly rate of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) for 2026 to 2027 is £123.25 or 80% of the employee’s average weekly earnings (whichever is lower).
The amount you must pay per day of absence (the daily rate) will depend on:
In practice, this means the daily rate may be based on the standard weekly rate or will be calculated specific to the individual employee.
You can view the full breakdown of daily rates here.
To quickly calculate SSP, use the government’s calculator here.
For more detailed guidance on manual SSP calculations, you can refer to the information here.
With SSP rules becoming more prominent under upcoming legislation changes, it’s particularly important to ensure your processes are accurate and up to date.
Vento bands are tiered bands of compensation offered for injury to feelings in discrimination and whistleblowing cases.
The bands were revised this April, with claims presented to the employment tribunal on or after 6th April 2026 now being subject to the following:
Most cases which succeed in tribunal will see awards for injury of feelings in the lower band, up to £10,000.
For serious cases, medical evidence will usually be required to demonstrate the claimant has suffered a significant detriment to their mental and physical health as a result.
For unfair dismissal, the compensation rates at employment tribunal have increased, with the two key rates as below:
These changes came into effect for dismissals on or after 6th April 2026.
A final, important note on this is that any limit on the compensatory award for unfair dismissal is being abolished for dismissals occurring on or after January 2027. This is subject to final legislative confirmation being passed, so watch this space.
As always, if you’d like support understanding how these changes impact your business, or ensuring your policies and processes are up to date, Metro HR are here to help.
If you’re not already a client, why not book a complimentary consultation call using the button below?
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