Employment law insights
New tax year – new payment and compensation rates
Tribunal Awards
From 6 April 2026, compensation caps will be increased as follows:
Rate to 5 April 2026 Rate from 6 April 2026
A week’s pay* £719 £751
Unfair dismissal £118,223 £123,543
compensatory award**
Failure to have a written £5,135 £5,366
tips policy,
or for failure to allocate and
pay tips fairly:
*This figure is used to calculate statutory redundancy pay and the basic award for unfair dismissal claims.
**At present, the maximum amount of compensatory award which can be obtained in a successful claim for unfair dismissal is the lower of either a years’ pay or the statutory cap. However, from 1 January 2027, the cap for the compensatory award is going to be removed entirely.
Statutory Payments
From 6 April 2026, the following payments will also increase from £187.18 to £194.32 per week:
statutory maternity pay (after the first six weeks);
statutory paternity pay;
statutory adoption pay;
statutory shared parental pay;
statutory parental bereavement pay; and
statutory neonatal care pay.
The National minimum wage also changes annually (but inconsistently on 1 April rather than 6 April). The new rates are as follows:
Rate to 31 March 2026 Rate from 1 April 2026
Apprentices £7.55 £8
Under 18s £7.55 £8
18-21 £10 £10.85
Over 21 £12.21 £12.71