The Employment Protection (Increase of Limits) Order 1995

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order, which comes into force two months after it is made, increases certain of the limits which are required to be reviewed annually by the Secretary of State under section 148 of the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 (“the 1978 Act”). It also raises the limits found in sections 75 and 75A of the 1978 Act and sections 156 and 158 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (“the 1992 Act”).

The limit of the amount of guarantee payment set out in section 15(1) of the 1978 Act in respect of any day is increased from £14.10 to £14.50.

The limit of the amount for the purpose of calculating the sum payable by the Secretary of State under section 122 of the 1978 Act in respect of the debt due to an employee whose employer becomes insolvent is increased from £205 to £210.

The limits of the amount of “a weeks’s pay” for the purposes of calculating redundancy payments and the basic and additional awards of compensation on a complaint of unfair dismissal are increased from £205 to £210.

The increase in the amount of “a week’s pay” is also one of the constituents of the limit applied by section 67(8) of the 1992 Act to compensation on a complaint of unjustifiable discipline by a trade union, and under section 174(6) in respect of a complaint of exclusion or expulsion from a trade union.

The limit of the amount of compensation which can be awarded by an industrial tribunal in claims for unfair dismissal as the compensatory award or as compensation for failure fully to comply with the terms of an order of reinstatement or re-engagement is raised to £11,300. This increase also affects the maximum amount of compensation that may be awarded under section 67 of the 1992 Act on a complaint of unjustifiable discipline by a trade union; under section 140 of that Act on a complaint of refusal of employment or refusal of service of employment agency on grounds related to trade union membership; and under section 176 of that Act on a complaint of exclusion or expulsion from a trade union.

The Order also increases from £2,700 to £2,770 the minimum basic award and increases the limits of £13,400, £26,800 and £20,100 to £13,775, £27,500 and £20,600 respectively, applicable in calculating special awards on a complaint of unfair dismissal on trade union grounds (section 152 of the 1992 Act) and health and safety grounds (section 57A of the 1978 Act).

The Order contains transitional provisions.