2001 No. 21
TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2001

Made
Laid before Parliament
Coming into force
The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 34 of the Employment Relations Act 19991, hereby makes the following Order:

Citation, commencement and interpretation1.

(1)

This Order may be cited as the Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2001 and shall come into force on 1st February 2001.

(2)

In this Order—

(a)

“the 1992 Act” means the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 19922;

(b)

“the 1996 Act” means the Employment Rights Act 19963.

Revocation2.

Subject to article 4, the Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 19994 is revoked.

Increase of limits3.

Subject to article 4, each of the limits referred to in the first and second columns of the Table in the Schedule to this Order is increased by the substitution, in place of the old amount specified in the third column, of the new amount specified in the fourth column.

Transitional provisions4.

(1)

The increases provided for in article 3 have effect in any case where the appropriate date falls on or after 1st February 2001.

(2)

In a case where the appropriate date falls before 1st February 2001, the limits having effect in relation to the case immediately before 1st February 2001 continue to apply.

(3)

In this article “the appropriate date” means—

(a)

in the case of an application made under section 67 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 Act5 (compensation for exclusion or expulsion from a trade union), the date of the exclusion or expulsion from the union;

(d)

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

(e)

in the case of a complaint presented under section 111 of the 1996 Act (complaints of unfair dismissal), for the purpose of calculating the basic award or compensatory award under section 118(1) of that Act, the effective date of termination as defined by section 97 of that Act;

(f)

in the case of an award under section 117(1) or (3) of the 1996 Act6, 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 of 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;

(g)

in the case of entitlement to a redundancy payment by virtue of section 135(1)(a) of the 1996 Act (dismissal by reason of redundancy), the relevant date as defined by section 145 of that Act7;

(h)

in the case of entitlement to a redundancy payment by virtue of section 135(1)(b) of the 1996 Act (lay-off or short-time), the relevant date as defined by section 153 of that Act; and

(i)

in the case of entitlement to a payment under section 182 of the 1996 Act (payments by the Secretary of State), the appropriate date as defined by section 185 of that Act.

Alan Johnson,
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Competitiveness,
Department of Trade and Industry

SCHEDULETABLE OF INCREASE OF LIMITS

Article 3

Relevant statutory provision

Subject of provision

Old Limits

New Limits

1

Section 156(1) of the 1992 Act

Minimum amount of basic award of compensation where dismissal is unfair by virtue of section 152(1) or 153 of the 1992 Act.

£3,100

£3,300

2

Section 176(6) of the 1992 Act

Minimum amount of compensation awarded by the Employment Appeal Tribunal where individual excluded or expelled from union in contravention of section 174 of the 1992 Act.

£5,300

£5,500

3

Section 31(1) of the 1996 Act

Limit on amount of guarantee payment payable to an employee in respect of any day.

£16.10

£16.70

4

Section 120(1) of the 1996 Act

Minimum amount of basic award of compensation where dismissal is unfair by virtue of section 100(1)(a) or (b), 101A(d), 102(1) or 103 of the 1996 Act.

£3,100

£3,300

5

Section 124(1) of the 1996 Act

Limit on amount of compensatory award for unfair dismissal.

£50,000

£51,700

6

Section 186(1) of the 1996 Act

Limits on amount in respect of any one week payable to an employee in respect of debt to which Part XII of the 1996 Act applies and which is referable to a period of time.

£230

£240

7

Section 227(1) of the 1996 Act

Maximum amount of “a week’s pay” for the purpose of calculating basic or additional award of compensation for unfair dismissal or redundancy payment.

£230

£240

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order increases, from 1st February 2001, the limits applying to certain awards of employment tribunals, and other amounts payable under employment legislation, as specified in the Schedule to the Order.

Orders under section 34 are required to change the limits by the amount by which the retail prices index for September of the year in which the order is made is higher (or lower) than the index for the previous September. The increases made by this Order therefore reflect the increase in the index from September 1999 to September 2000.

The increases apply where the event giving rise to the entitlement to compensation or other payments occurred on or after 1st February 2001. Limits previously in force (under the Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/3375)) are preserved by article 4 of the Order in relation to cases where the relevant event was before that date.