It’s that time of year when we consider forthcoming employment legislation changes from April 2024. Being aware of the changes ensures you can prepare for them and protect your business from any legal claims. Here’s a rundown of the changes.

Payroll costs – National Minimum Wage rates

Inflation continues to be a key issue for many employers who are facing pressure to increase wages.  Whilst there is no legal requirement to increase pay to address issues with high inflation rates, the National Minimum Wage/living rates are going up on 1 April 2024, therefore if your pay is based on minimum wage rates per hour, you will need to implement these changes:

Statutory pay rates – From April 2024

Family friendly leave

The rates of Statutory Maternity, Adoption, Paternity, Shared Parental and Parental Bereavement pay will increase to £184.03 per week.

Statutory Sick pay

The rate of Statutory Sick Pay will increase to £116.75 per week.

Statutory redundancy payments

With effect from 6th April 2023, the statutory redundancy pay cap will increase to £700 per week. It’s important to ensure you get up to date compensation information for anyone who leaves due to redundancy on or after this date. You will need to calculate their redundancy pay on the new rate.  If the redundant employee’s normal weekly rate is under the new figure, you should calculate their redundancy compensation based on their actual weekly pay rate.

Rolled-up holiday pay

With effect from the holiday year starting in April 2024 and thereafter, workers who work irregular or part year hours can have their holiday pay rolled in to their pay, rather than accruing actual holiday which has to be taken as leave.  The method of calculating the holiday pay will be 12.07%. Employers should note this only applies to those employees who work irregular or part-year hours. Other employees with set hours (either part or full-time) will accrue paid holiday which must be taken as paid time off.

Flexible Working Requests

With effect from 6th April 2024, employees will be able to make a flexible working request from day one of their employment, removing the current 26 weeks’ service requirement.  Employees will be able to make two requests a year (currently only one request is possible) and they will no longer be required to set out the likely effects on the business of the change.  Employers will be compelled to consult with the employee before rejecting a request and the time allowed for the whole process, including appeal, will be reduced from three to two months.

Statutory Carer’s Leave

Statutory Carer’s Leave will give carers a minimum of one week’s unpaid leave per year to care for a dependant with a long-term care needs, from day one of their employment.

This will be a day one right for employees and is flexible, however it’s likely advance notice will need to be provided, and it may be possible to postpone requests in a similar way to Unpaid Parental Leave.

This right will be in place from 6th April 2024.

Paternity Leave

An amendment to the entitlement for fathers and partners to take Paternity Leave has recently been proposed.  If approved fathers and partners will be able to take their Paternity Leave in two split weeks, should they wish, and the timeframe for taking the leave will be extended from 56 days after the birth, to 12 months after the birth, offering more flexibility to new parents.

This amendment will be effective for babies born or children adopted on or after 6th April 2024.

Redundancy Protection for Pregnancy and Family Leave

This protection extends the right to be redeployed during pregnancy (including if a miscarriage is suffered), maternity and family leave for 18 months after the start of that leave. These are important considerations during an employee’s family/maternity leave and in restructuring or redundancy exercises.  Employers who breach this protection will risk claims for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination (with uncapped compensation).

This new protection will be in place from April 2024.

Upcoming changes to be confirmed

2024 is potentially going to be another busy year for changes in employment law.  This is a summary of what may be in the pipeline when it comes to employment legislation changes from April 2024.  In some cases there are no firm dates for implementation however, it pays to be ahead of the changes and consider how they may affect you and your business in advance of the bills being passed in to law.

Employment Allocation of Tips Act

This ban will make it unlawful for employers to withhold tips from staff.  In addition, employers must also have a written policy related to tip allocation in place.  This will apply to tips, gratuities and service charges given during the previous month.

This is expected to be in place from July 2024.

Statutory Neonatal Care Leave

This statutory leave will allow parents whose babies need hospital neonatal care to take 12 weeks’ paid leave. This is in addition to their statutory maternity, shared parental or paternity leave. The right will:

• be available from day one of employment;
• apply to parents with babies who are admitted to hospital before they are 28 days old;
• apply to babies who need to stay in hospital for 7 days continuously or more.

This is expected to be in place from April 2025.

Right to request more predictable working patterns

Employees and workers (including agency and zero hours workers) will have the right to formally request a more stable working pattern.  In addition, this right will also be available to those on fixed-term contracts of less than a year.  This right will apply after 26 weeks of continuous employment.

Employers will only be able to refuse requests  if there is a legal reason for refusing the request.

This is expected to be in place ‘in due course’.

Proactive duty to prevent sexual harassment

This will require employers to have proactive measures in place to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.  As a result employers will be legally responsible if no measures are in place.  And that responsibility applies, regardless of whether or not an incident has occurred. Failure to comply with this requirement could result in increased compensation of up to 25%.

This is expected to be in place from October 2024.

Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) Act 2023

This Act brings in changes to the Automatic Enrolment populations and employers who use Qualifying Earnings to calculate contributions:

• Lowering the age criteria for auto-enrolment from 22 to 18 years of age
• Removing the Lower Earnings Limit of £6,240 if you’re using qualifying earnings

There is no indication at this point when this change will come in to effect.

If you’re concerned about what these employment legislation changes from April 2024 mean for your business and need help reviewing your policies, please get in touch with Helpful HR.

As an employer it’s important to know of any forthcoming employment law changes. Being aware of the changes ensures you can prepare for them and protect your business from any legal claims. Here’s a rundown of the changes taking effect from April 2023.

Payroll costs – National Minimum Wage rates

The cost of living increase continues to be a key issue for many employers who are facing pressure to increase wages.

Whilst there is no legal requirement to increase pay to address issues with high inflation rates, the National Minimum Wage/living rates are going up on 1 April 2023, therefore if your pay is based on minimum wage rates, you will need to implement these changes:

Statutory pay rates

Family friendly leave

From 3 April 2023 Statutory Maternity, Adoption, Paternity, Shared Parental and Parental Bereavement pay will increase to £172.48 per week.

Statutory Sick pay

On 3 April 2023 Statutory Sick Pay will increase to £109.40 per week.

Statutory redundancy payments

With effect from 6th April 2023, the statutory redundancy pay cap increases to £643 per week, therefore for anyone who leaves due to redundancy on or after this date, you will need to calculate their redundancy pay on this new rate.  If the redundant employee’s normal weekly rate is under this figure, you should calculate their redundancy compensation based on their actual weekly pay rate.

Bank holidays – The King’s Coronation

In 2023 there will be an additional Bank Holiday to celebrate the King’s Coronation, on Monday 8th May 2023. This is in addition to the usual May Day Bank Holiday on 1st May, and the Spring Bank Holiday on Monday 29th May 2023.

An employee’s individual contract of employment will dictate whether they are entitled to take this additional day off and how this day’s leave will be treated.  Employers should check the wording in their employees’ contracts, and communicate clearly to employees if they are expected to work on the additional bank holiday, and / or if they need to take it from their annual leave entitlement.

Upcoming changes to be confirmed

2023 is potentially going to be a busy year for changes in employment law, with lots of Bills under consideration.  This is a summary of what may be in the pipeline.  There are no firm dates for implementation, but in the meantime it pays to be ahead of the changes and consider how they may affect you and your business in advance of the bills being passed in to law.

Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill

During her brief time as Conservative Prime Minister, Liz Truss expressed the Party’s commitment to change Working Time Regulations’ rules on taking breaks, limiting the 48-hour working week and calculating holiday pay. In addition, the government introduced the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill which, if passed unamended, will remove all UK laws containing EU law by the end of 2023. In addition it will give the government powers to repeal or replace those laws without Parliamentary scrutiny. As well as the working time rules, the TUPE and the agency workers regulations may be at the top of a possible list for reform, due the fact that these laws derive directly from EU regulations.

Anti-strike policies

Conservative proposals for restricting the effect of industrial action were outlined by the the previous Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps in July 2022. Consequently, some anti-strike measures are already passing or have passed into law, such as the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill and Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses (Amendment) Regulations 2022 which allow organisations to use agency workers to cover striking workers.

However, the Regulatory Policy Committee have stated the Strikes Bill is ‘not fit for purpose’ and subsequently have suggested another impact assessment is needed. In addition, the TUC has mounted a legal challenge to the agency worker rule change, which is due to be heard in March 2023.

The Carer’s Leave Bill

The Carer’s Leave Bill will give carers one week’s unpaid leave a year to care for a dependant with a long-term care need that is:

• likely to last more than three months;
• is a disability under the Equality Act 2010; and/or
• connected to old age.

This will be a day one right for employees.

Many organisations already support carers and have policies in place, however this will involve changes to flexible working policies and practices, therefore communicating any changes relating to flexible working requests and requests for carer leave to managers will be very important, to ensure any speculative enquiries are dealt with appropriately.

The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill 

This bill extends the right to be redeployed during pregnancy (including miscarriage), maternity and family leave for 18 months after the start of that leave. These are important considerations that will have to be managed during an employee’s family/maternity leave and in restructuring or redundancy exercises.

Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill

The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill will allow parents whose babies need hospital neonatal care to take 12 weeks’ paid leave in addition to their statutory maternity or paternity leave. The right will:

• be available from day one of employment;
• apply to parents with babies who are admitted to hospital before they are 28 days old;
• apply to babies who need to stay in hospital for 7 days continuously or more.

Employment (Allocation of Tips) Bill

This bill will make it unlawful for employers to withhold tips from staff.  A new statutory Code of Practice on how tips should be distributed will be developed, and in addition workers will gain a new right to request information on an employer’s tipping record to help them to bring a tribunal claim under the new rules.

Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill

This new legislation would:

• make flexible working requests a day one right for employees (thereby removing the current 26 weeks’ service requirement)
• allow employees to make two requests a year (currently only one request is possible)
• require employers to consult with the employee, before rejecting a request
• shorten the time employers have to reply to a request from three to two months
• remove the requirement for employees to set out the likely effects on the business of the change.

Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Bill

This bill will give all employees and workers (including agency and zero hours workers) the right to formally request a more stable working pattern and will be available to those who:

• have worked for the employer for 26 weeks (not necessarily continuously)
• are on work patterns that lack certainty in the hours and time they work
• are on fixed term contracts under 12 months’ in duration.

Workers will be able to make two requests a year, however employers will be able to refuse requests on specific grounds, e.g. due to the additional costs involved or a lack of work at the times requested.  This reform is intended to rectify one-sided flexibility favouring employers to the detriment of workers.

Office of the Whistleblower

A Bill on whistleblowing could, if passed, repeal the current framework in the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 and introduce broader protection with a bigger range of penalties. The bill involves the creation of a new body, potentially called the Office of the Whistleblower, which would be given investigation powers and have the authority to order redress.

Auto-Enrolment Pension Changes 

There is an Automatic Enrolment Private Members Bill moving through Parliament which looks set to bring in changes to the Automatic Enrolment populations and employers who use Qualifying Earnings to calculate contributions:

• Lowering the age criteria for auto-enrolment from 22 to 18 years of age
• Removing the Lower Earnings Limit of £6,240 if you’re using qualifying earnings

Predictions are that this particular change will come in to effect either in April 2024, or at the earliest in October 2023.

And….

The government is also backing the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill currently passing through Parliament, which would cover the following:

• reintroducing employers’ liability for the harassment of their staff by third-parties (whether they are customers, clients, or suppliers). This liability was previously removed in 2013;
• requiring employers to proactively prevent the sexual harassment of their staff;
• allowing for a 25% uplift in any award in a successful sexual harassment tribunal claim where the employer failed to prevent the harassment occurring.

If you’re concerned about what these employment law changes mean for your business and need help in preparing for them, please get in touch with Helpful HR.

As an employer it’s important to know of any forthcoming employment law changes. Being aware of the changes ensures you can prepare for them and protect your business from any legal claims. Here’s a rundown of the changes taking effect from April 2022.

Gender pay gap reporting

For businesses in the private sector with a headcount of 250 or more, your ‘snapshot’  gender pay gap reporting is due to be published on or before 4^th April 2022.  The information about what you need to report can be found here.

There is currently speculation about the introduction of new ethnicity pay gap reporting, but there are no clear plans to introduce that requirement.

Payroll costs – National Minimum Wage rates

The cost of living increase is likely to be a key issue for many employers who will face increasing pressure from employees to increase wages.

Whilst there is no legal requirement to increase pay to address issues with increases in inflation rates, National Minimum Wage/living rates are going up on 1 April 2022 so if your pay is based on minimum wage rates, you will need to implement these changes:

Health and Social Care Levy – 6 April 2022

The UK is introducing a new social care levy  from 6 April 2022 to help fund health and social care. This will be collected via a 1.25% increase in National Insurance rates for employers and employees in 2022.

People above State Pension age will not be affected by the temporary increase to National Insurance contributions for the 2022 to 2023 tax year, but will be liable to pay the levy from April 2023.

Statutory pay rates

Family friendly leave

From 3 April 2022 Statutory Maternity, Adoption,  Paternity, Shared Parental and parental bereavement pay will increase to £156.66 per week.

Statutory Sick pay

On 6 April 2022 Statutory Sick Pay will increase to £99.35 per week.

Statutory redundancy payments

For anyone made redundant on or after 6^th April 2022, the statutory redundancy pay weekly pay rate increases to £571, therefore for anyone who leaves due to redundancy on or after 6^th April 2022 you will need to base their redundancy pay on this new weekly cap.  If the redundant employee’s normal weekly rate is under this figure, you should calculate their redundancy compensation based on their actual weekly pay rate.

Right to work checks

Although the concept of right to work checks is not new, there are changes to be aware of which come in to effect from 6th April 2022.  Full guidance is here

Key changes include:

• implementation of a new Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT) process,
• changes for those that hold a Biometric Residence Card, Biometric Residence Permit or Frontier Worker Permit.

Bank holidays – The Queen’s Jubilee

In 2022 there will be an additional Bank Holiday to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee on Friday 3rd June. The usual late May bank holiday has moved to Thursday 2 June to give workers a four-day weekend.

Individual contracts of employment will dictate whether employees are entitled to take this additional day off, and how this day’s leave will be treated.  Employers should check the wording in contracts and communicate clearly to employees whether they are expected to work on the additional bank holiday, and / or if they need to take it from their annual leave entitlement.

As the Jubilee week is to all intents and purposes a 3-day week and is at school half-term in most places, employers should prepare for a large number of annual leave requests.

If you’re concerned about what these employment law changes mean for your business and need help in preparing for them, please get in touch with Helpful HR.