National Minimum Wage and Vento Band Awards increased from April 2024
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National Minimum Wage and Vento Band Awards increased from April 2024
From 1 April 2024, the national minimum wage and Vento band awards for injury to feelings and psychiatric injury increased as part of the annual review and increasingly to take into account rising inflation.
National Minimum Wage Increase
From 1 April 2024, the national minimum wage also increased. Bearing in mind that 1.6 million employees are paid the national minimum wage (according to the Low Pay Commission), this will be a significant addition cost for employers. The wages changed as follows:
| 21+ | 18-20 | U18 | Apprentice | |
| April 2024 | £11.44 | £8.60 | £6.40 | £6.40 |
| % increase | 9.8% | 14.8% | 21.2% | 21.2% |
It is important for employers to keep careful records of wages, but now also focus on whether overtime, deductions and salary sacrifice may drop workers below the national minimum wage where it had not previously been an issue. Employers should pay careful attention to those on salaries of around £21,000 – £23,000 doing unpaid overtime which may breach national minimum wage requirements.
It is also worth noting that the live-in domestic worker exemption under the national minimum wage regulations was removed from 1 April 2024.
Vento Bands Increase
Any claims presented from 6 April 2024 onwards, in the joint presidential guidance note announced that the Vento bands would increase as follows:
- lower band – £1,200 – £11,700;
- middle band – £11,700 – £35,200;
- upper band – £35,200 – £58,700; and
- exceptional cases – £58,700+.
The Vento bands were implemented in the decision of Vento v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire and are a discretionary award, awarded for injury to feelings that are suffered by a claimant. They are completely separate from compensation for financial loss and are not implemented to be a direct punishment on the employer. The Employment Tribunal will consider a number of relevant facts including (but not limited to):
- the vulnerable nature of the claimant;
- the impact the treatment had on them; and
- the degree of stress caused to the claimant.
If as an employer you have concerns about meeting your obligations or as an employee whether your employer is meeting their obligations, please do get in contact with a member of our Employment Team who will be able to guide you in relation to any issues.
We publish blogs and social media posts to give a general overview of legal and commercial issues, relevant at the time of publication, which we hope you will find interesting. Please note that legal rules often change depending on the specific facts of a situation. The law also changes over time following changes in legislation or new court cases. We do not actively update our blogs or posts once they are published to reflect changes in the law.
As such, our blogs and posts are not intended to advise you on the law and must not be relied upon as legal advice. If you require advice on a particular issue then please contact us and we will be pleased to help.
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