The start of the new tax year on 6 April 2014 will see a number of changes to employment law.

The rule changes will affect many areas of employment law, from employment tribunals and discrimination, to everyday areas such as auto-enrolment and maternity pay.

Key changes:

• Statutory maternity and paternity pay will increase from £136.78 to £138.18
• The time period for auto-enrolling workers has increased from 1 month to 6 weeks
• Employee complaints are now required to submit details to the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS)
• Tribunal award limits are being increased.

David Coulter, director of HR Heroes, urged small and medium-sized businesses to pay attention to the incoming changes:

“These rule changes are taking place in areas that affect companies each day so it’s important employers are aware of them. One of the more significant changes is the fact that aggrieved employees must now enter into a conciliation process with ACAS, which should hopefully reduce the number of formal tribunal claims.

“While this is arguably good news, what’s not so good is that the limit on a number of award payments has risen quite significantly, putting companies at increased financial risk.”