As well as the usual threshold and rate changes we see at the start of a new tax year, in this tax year we have some larger changes. You'll find more information about each of them below.
Statutory parental leave
There are three key changes to statutory parental leave:
Parents can take their leave now in two non-consecutive weekly blocks of leave. Previously, they could take either one or two weeks consecutively.
They now have up to 52 weeks to take their paternity leave; previously, it was only 8 weeks.
Parents will still need to provide notice that they plan to take paternity leave, at least 15 weeks before the baby's expected due date, or placement date. However, they now have up to four weeks before this date to finalise their leave dates.
These changes are applicable for babies born on or after 7 April 2024 for paternity (birth), and for adopted children placed on or after 6 April 2024.
HMRC guidance has not yet been updated, but ACAS covers both the existing guidance and the new guidance.
Please refer to our Help Centre articles about eligibility for paternity (birth) or how to set up and manage paternity pay in PayFit.
Statutory unpaid carer's leave
This new type of statutory leave is for employees supporting a dependent with a disability, illness, or mental health condition.
The key points are:
Employees are entitled to one week of unpaid carer's leave within twelve months, on a rolling basis. It doesn't reset at a certain time of the year, e.g., the start of your annual leave year.
One week is relevant to the employee's working pattern. For example, a seven-day worker can take seven days.
The leave can be taken in half-day increments.
The employee needs to provide notice of at least twice the length of the leave they expect to take, but there's a minimum notice period of three days. E.g., six days notice for three days of leave, or three days notice to take half a day of leave.
For further information about unpaid carer's leave, please refer to HMRC's guidance.
Holiday pay and entitlement for irregular workers
These changes are applicable to your first annual leave year, which starts on or after 1 April 2024. The changes apply to irregular workers, which includes part-year (seasonal) workers, or zero-hour contracts.
More information is available in our Help Centre article.