(1)    This Order may be cited as the Employment Rights (Revision of Limits) Order 2009 and shall come into force on 1st February 2010.

(2)    In this Order—

(a)    “the 1992 Act” means the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992; and

(b)    “the 1996 Act” means the Employment Rights Act 1996.

In the provisions set out in column 1 of the Schedule to this Order (generally described in column 2), for the sums specified in column 3 substitute the sums specified in column 4.

(1)    The substitutions made by article 2 do not have effect in relation to a case where the appropriate date falls before 1st February 2010.

(2)    In this article “the appropriate date” means—

(a)    in the case of an application made under section 67(1) of the 1992 Act (compensation for unjustifiable discipline by a trade union), the date of the determination infringing the applicant's right;

(b)    in the case of a complaint presented under section 137(2) of the 1992 Act (refusal of employment on grounds related to union membership) or section 138(2) of that Act (refusal of service of employment agency on grounds related to union membership), the date of the conduct to which the complaint relates, as determined under section 139 of that Act;

(c)    in the case of an application made under section 176(2) of the 1992 Act (compensation for exclusion or expulsion from a trade union), the date of the exclusion or expulsion from the union;

(d)    in the case of an award under paragraph 159(1) of Schedule A1 to the 1992 Act (compensation for a worker who has been subjected to a detriment in contravention of paragraph 156 of that Schedule), where a worker has suffered a detriment that is the termination of the worker's contract, the date of the termination;

(e)    in the case of a guarantee payment to which an employee is entitled under section 28(1) of the 1996 Act (right to guarantee payment in respect of workless day), the day in respect of which the payment is due;

(f)    in the case of an award of compensation under section 49(1)(b) of the 1996 Act by virtue of section 24(2) of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 (compensation for a worker who has been subjected to a detriment in contravention of section 23 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998), where a worker has suffered a detriment that is the termination of the worker's contract, the date of the termination;

(g)    in the case of an award under section 112(4) of the 1996 Act (award in relation to unfair dismissal), the effective date of termination as defined by section 97 of that Act;

(h)    in the case of an award under section 117(1) or (3) of the 1996 Act where an employer has failed to comply fully with the terms of an order for reinstatement or re-engagement or has failed to reinstate or re-engage the complainant in accordance with such an order, the date by which the order for reinstatement (specified under section 114(2)(c) of that Act) or, as the case may be, re-engagement (specified under section 115(2)(f) of that Act), should have been complied with.

Lord Young of Norwood Green

Minister of State for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs

Department for Business, Innovation & Skills

10th December 2009

This Order revises, from 1st February 2010, the limits applying to certain awards of employment tribunals, and another amount payable under employment legislation, as specified in the Schedule to the Order. The revisions made by this Order apply where the event giving rise to the entitlement to compensation or other payment occurred on or after 1st February 2010.

Under section 34 of the Employment Relations Act 1999, if the retail prices index for September of a year is higher or lower than the index for the previous September, the Secretary of State is required to change the limits, by Order, by the amounts of the increase or decrease. The revised amounts made by this Order reflect the decrease of 1.4% in the index from September 2008 to September 2009.

In making the calculation required by section 34, the figures are required to be rounded up in certain ways. This has resulted in three of the limits remaining the same and therefore they have not been included in this Order. The unchanged limits are those in sections 145E(3) and 156(1) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 and that in section 120(1) of the Employment Rights Act 1996. These limits were last revised in the Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2008 (SI 2008/3055) and the current limits are set out in the Table at the end of this Explanatory Note.

The Order does not revise the remaining two of the specified limits, namely that in section 186(1)(a) and (b) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and that in section 227(1) of that Act. These sums were increased from £350 to £380 from 1st October 2009 by the Work and Families (Increase of Maximum Amount) Order 2009 (SI 2009/1903). Article 3 of that Order excluded the operation of section 34 of the Employment Relations Act 1999 in relation to the sums increased in that Order on the occasion of an increase or decrease in the retail prices index for September 2009. Therefore those sums are not, on this occasion, revised in line with the retail prices index, but the limits are included in the Table below for information.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this Order as it has no impact on the costs of business.