Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One app.

Start reading

Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles. One news app.

Start reading

Wales Online

National

Molly Dowrick

The new laws set to come into force in 2023

Wales United Kingdom Voter Minimum Wage England Welsh Government

2023 has arrived and there are changes to laws, both across the UK and specifically in Wales, that could affect our days at work or potentially change what we do at home or when out and about. The UK and Welsh Governments have introduced several new laws this year that will come into action in the next 12 months.

Employees earning the minimum wage or national living wage for their age range will be pleased to see an increase in hourly rates while others may be pleased by the new Renting Homes Act, which has been designed to improve conditions for those in rented accommodation. Perhaps the most significant change to renting under the act is that landlords in Wales will now have to give at least six months’ notice to tenants if they want them to move out (through no fault of their own).

Another significant new law set to come into force in 2023 is the Voter ID law. When voting at a polling station for certain elections in Wales and England people will be required to show their photo ID in order to receive their ballot paper. Meanwhile, Wales is set to become the first nation in the UK to have a default 20mph speed limit. Here's our our round-up of the most important new laws coming into force in 2023 that you need to know. For a reminder of which significant laws came into action over the past 12 months you can go here.

You'll have to bring ID to vote

Currently you do not need to provide ID when you go to a polling station to vote – you only have to say your name and the first line of your address. From May 2023, to be issued a ballot paper for a UK parliamentary election, a police and crime commissioner election in Wales or England, or for a council election or referendum in England, you will need to show valid photo ID under the new Elections Act 2022.

The House of Commons Library website outlines why voter ID has been introduced: "Voter ID is designed to prevent 'personation' – the crime of pretending to be someone else when you vote. The government acknowledges levels of fraud are low but argues that every ballot matters and that voter ID will protect voters from having their vote stolen."

The voter ID law is due to be in place for local elections in England in May 2023 and for any UK Parliamentary election held after that. It's understood the Electoral Commission will increase public awareness of the requirement to have ID to vote throughout the first six months of 2023.

The types of ID set to be allowed include passports, photographic driving licences, biometric immigration documents, and some concessionary travel passes. Plus a new free voter document called the voter authority certificate will also be available for anyone who doesn't yet have a form of photographic ID.

The National Living Wage will rise as will new minimum wage rates

The National Living Wage (NLW) will rise to £10.42 per hour on April 1, 2023 – an increase of 92p per hour on the current rate. All employees in the UK aged 23 and above qualify for the NLW so from April 1, 2023, it will be a legal requirement for all employers in the UK to pay their employees aged 23 and above the new rate at least.

New minimum wages for workers aged under 23 also come into law on April 1, 2023. The new rates are: a minimum of £10.18 per hour for 21- to 22-year-olds, a minimum £7.49 per hour for 18- to 20-year-olds, a minimum £5.28 for 16- to 17-year-olds, and a minimum of £5.28 for apprentices. You can see how these new rates compare to the current ones in the table below:

	New rate (from 01.04.22)	Current rate (01.04.22 - 31.03.23)	Percentage increase
National Living Wage	£10.42	£9.50	9.7%
21-22-year-old rate	£10.18	£9.18	10.9%
18-20-year-old rate	£7.49	£6.83	9.7%
16-17-year-old rate	£5.28	£4.81	9.7%
Apprentice rate	£5.28	£4.81	9.7%
Accommodation offset	£9.10	£8.70	4.6%

Maternity pay, paternity pay and statutory sick pay will all increase

Many benefits that people receive from the UK Government are set to increase by 10.1% from April 2023 inline with inflation. The founder of MoneySavingExpert Martin Lewis said the increase affects “the vast majority” of benefits.

The exact amounts people will receive from April 2023 can be viewed on the UK Government’s Benefits and Pensions Rates 2023 to 2024 document which you can read in full here. Among the most significant increases we have:

Increase to maternity allowance

The "standard rate" for maternity allowance/statutory maternity pay is set to increase from £156.66 per week to £172.48 per week for the financial year April 2023 to April 2024. This new weekly rate will also apply to people receiving statutory paternity, shared parental, or parental bereavement pay during the same timeframe. In short this means if you’re off work on maternity, paternity, shared parental or parental bereavement leave your employer will have to pay you a minimum of £172.48 per week from April 2023.

Increase to statutory sick pay (SSP)

From April 2023 the rate will increase to a minimum of £109.40 per week. This means if you’re off work on SSP after April 2023, your employer will have to pay you a minimum of £109.40 per week.

Increase to personal independence payments (PIP)

From April 2023, payments will rise from £92.40 per week to £101.75 per week for someone receiving the enhanced daily living component payment and from £61.85 to £68.10 for someone receiving the standard daily living component payment. Someone receiving the enhanced mobility component payment will also see their incoming payments increase slightly from £64.40 to £71 while people receiving the standard mobility component payments will see their increase from £24.45 per week to £26.90 per week from April 2023

Renters and landlords will see huge changes to how they rent their home

Dubbed "the biggest change to Welsh housing law in decades" the Renting Homes Act has brought in a series of changes to renting laws in Wales from December 1, 2022, with other changes set to come into effect from June 1, 2023.

The act has been designed to improve how people rent, manage, and live in Welsh rented homes and also aims to make letting out a home an easier process for landlords. The biggest changes the act introduces include changes to tenancy contracts, new requirements for the condition of rental properties, and new rules around how landlords and their tenants communicate,

These are the key things to know:

Tenants renamed 'contract-holders'

Under the Renting Homes Act people who rent a property will be called "contract-holders" as they hold a contract to the home where they live. The idea behind this is that it should make it clearer who can continue living in a rented property if circumstances change – for example if a current tenant dies. SimplyBusiness reports that this will also make it easier for "joint tenants to leave a property without the need to end the current contract and start a new one."

The end of tenancy agreements

Tenancy agreements were replaced by 'occupation contracts' which means that since December 1, 2022, landlords have been required to give new tenants a paper or electronic version of their occupation contract within 14 days. For existing tenancies landlords have six months to issue their tenants with their new occupation contracts.
Under the Renting Homes Act occupation contracts must include all key details (such as names and addresses of tenants and landlords), main terms (such as the landlord's rules around repairs and possession of the property), and extra terms (such as communication expectations and whether tenants can keep pets).

Changes to landlord notice periods

From June 2023 any landlords who want to issue a "no-fault notice" to their contract-holders – meaning they want the contract-holder to leave but not because they've breached their occupation contract or caused an issue – will need to give the contract-holders (previously called 'tenants') six months' notice to leave.
If a tenant has breached their occupation contract the landlord will be required to give one month's notice unless the breach is deemed "serious", such as anti-social behaviour or owing rent, in which case the landlord can give a shorter notice period.
Additionally landlords will not be able to give tenants notice to leave until six months after their contract starts (i.e. until after the contract-holder has lived in the property for a minimum of six months unless they've broken their occupation contract) – and only if they've registered with Rent Smart Wales and have followed its deposit protection rules.

Properties must be 'fit for human inhabitation'

The Renting Homes Act introduces new requirements for every home rented out by a landlord. Landlords must ensure their homes:

have regular electrical safety tests;
have fitted – and working – carbon monoxide alarms and smoke detectors;
have water, gas, and electricity supplies in working order, and;
they must keep the structure and exterior of the property in good condition.

There will be a default 20mph speed limit on lots of roads

The Senedd passed The Restricted Roads (20mph Speed Limit) (Wales) Order 2022 legislation earlier this year and it comes into force in September 2023. Most “restricted roads” in Wales will see the speed limit decrease from 30mph to 20mph. The Welsh Government has defined “restricted roads” as roads where there is regular street lighting. The Welsh Government says reducing the default speed limit could reduce the number of road collisions on Welsh roads, help improve public health and wellbeing, help make streets safer, give people more opportunities to walk and cycle in their communities, and help safeguard the environment for future generations.

Interested in the major issues affecting Wales? You can sign up for our daily Wales Matters briefing on the big issues affecting the nation.

READ NEXT: