New statutory rates for parents in work


Proposed rates for Statutory Maternity Pay, Paternity Pay, Shared Parental Pay, Adoption Pay and Sick Pay from April 2019 are among the many revised State Benefit payments that have recently been published by the government.


Statutory Maternity Pay will increase by 2.4% from £146.18 to £148.68 a week or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings if this figure is less than the statutory rate, the Department for Work and Pensions said.


Similar rates and the 90% proviso apply to Paternity Pay, Shared Parental Pay and Adoption Pay.


The annual uprating for these benefits takes effect in the first full week of the tax year. In 2019, this will be the week beginning 8 April.


The rate of Statutory Sick Pay is also increasing from £92.05 to £94.25 a week.


Entitlement to these statutory payments is based on an employee’s average earnings, which must be equal to or more than the lower earnings limit (LEL). The LEL is increasing by 1.7% from £116 to £118 in April 2019.


www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-and-pension-rates-2019-to-2020