Winter 2007
I have heard that statutory holiday entitlement at work has changed. What are the new rules?
The minimum paid holiday your employer can give you is going up from 20 days to 24 days a year. This includes bank holidays, which means that if you're already getting 20 days holidays, plus bank holidays, you won't be entitled to any more.
Minimum paid holiday for part-time workers is also going up, but will be less than 24 days a year and will depend on how many days you work a month.
Some employers may be able to give you extra pay instead of the additional holidays, but only until 1 April 2009 when the law will change again.
From 1 April 2009, employers will have to give a minimum of 28 days a year paid holidays, including bank holidays. The increase will be less for part-time workers.
I know that the national minimum wage increases each year. What are the new rates?
Yes the rates change on the 1st October each year. The new rates are as follows.
- Aged 22 and over: £5.52
- Aged 18-21 inclusive: £4.60
- Aged 16 and 17: £3.40
- Modified training rate Abolished.
There has been a lot of talk about changes to inheritance tax rules. Can you explain them please?
New rules about inheritance tax (IHT) have been announced. These apply only to the estates of married couples and civil partners.
No IHT is payable on the value of an estate left to a surviving spouse or civil partner. Where someone does not leave their estate to a spouse or civil partner, no inheritance tax is payable on the first £300,000 of that estate. This is called the nil-rate band. The rest of the estate is subject to IHT. So where someone died and left all their estate to their partner, the nil rate band was not used and, therefore, was effectively lost.
The new rules allow the percentage of the nil-rate band not used by the first partner to be added to the nil-rate band that applies when the second partner dies. The new rules will apply where the second partner dies on or after 9 October 2007. It does not matter when the first partner died. The claim for the unused nil-rate band must be made when the second partner dies, not when the first partner dies. Someone dealing with the estate of the first partner who dies does not need to make a claim. They do, however, need to keep records of how much of the nil-rate band is used.
Last updated: October 12, 2007