New changes to Paternity Leave rules in 2024

The Government has now published the Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024. The Regulations apply in all cases where the estimated week of childbirth (EWC) is on or after 6 April 2024 ...

New changes to Flexible Working in 2024

With effect from 6 April 2024 all employees, regardless of their length of service, will have the right to request flexible working. Key changes to Flexible Working A Day 1 ...

New changes to Minimum Wage and Living Wage in 2024

New rates of National Living Wage (NLW) and National Minimum Wage (NMW) come into force from 1 April 2024. Key features of the Minimum Wage and Living Wage National Living ...

New changes to Redundancy Protection in 2024

From 6 April extra protection in the context of redundancy to those on Maternity, Paternity or Shared Adoption leave is being extended. They have the right of first refusal for ...

New changes to Annual Leave & Holiday Pay in 2024

The Government has created an entirely new system of holiday accrual and holiday pay for part-year and irregular hour workers as defined in the new regulations. Key Features for the ...

New changes to the Carer’s Leave Regulations 2024

The Carer’s Leave Regulations 2024 come into force on 6 April 2024.  Key Features of Carer's Leave The right is a Day 1 employment right. The right applies to employees ...

Call to make the Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme permanent 

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and the TUC have jointly called on the government to make the Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme permanent. FSB and TUC joint statement on ...

Are you telling Temps about vacancies in your organisation?

Agency Workers have the right to be notified of vacancies but not the right to apply or be considered for them the Court of Appeal decided last week in the case ...

UPDATE: Call under “Plan B” for home working where possible and will it affect our Christmas Party?

For those of you who did not see the announcement yesterday the government announced a tightening of restrictions in reaction to the new increased infection rates. Working from Home For ...

Health & safety detriment protection for workers

From 31 May 2021 new regulations mean that 'workers' gain the right not to be subjected to a detriment for raising health & safety concerns. The law has for some time ...

Right-to-work checks

The temporary adjusted right-to-work checks (which allowed employers to carry out right-to-work checks by video call, mobile app or email during the COVID-19 pandemic) will end on 20 June 2021. ...

HR Compensation Rates and Limits 2021

Compensation Limits Type of PaymentFrom 6 April 2020From 6 April 2021Compensatory Award for Unfair Dismissal (Max)A year’s pay subject to max cap of £88,519  A year’s pay subject to a ...

Update for Injury to feelings compensation in discrimination claims

An uplift to the injury to feelings awards limits (the Vento bands) has been released by the Presidents of the Employment Tribunals in England & Wales and Scotland. In respect ...

Recent court decisions

In Uber and others v Aslam and others, the Supreme Court upheld an employment tribunal decision that Uber drivers are workers within the meaning of UK employment legislation. This entitled the ...

Latest on coronavirus for HR teams

From early April employers with 10 or more employees will be able to order coronavirus tests for employees to collect from work and use at home.  Employers will need to ...

Treasury Direction for the extended Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) – further detail

We updated you last week on the further details of the extended furlough scheme. On Friday 13 November 2020 we saw a couple of amendments to the updated furlough scheme ...

Furlough Update for HR Specialists

Last week the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announced that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (also known as the CJRS or furlough scheme) will remain open until 31 March 2021. The job ...

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) scheme extension 2020

Just in case you missed the Saturday 31 October 2020 update, the CJRS (furlough scheme), which was due to end on Saturday, is to be extended throughout the new national ...

Further detail has been provided in relation to the Job Retention Bonus (JRB) scheme

A further (fourth) Treasury direction and HMRC guidance have been published, providing further details on the Job Retention Bonus (JRB). Employers will be able to apply for the £1,000 bonus ...

JSS extension – a new furlough scheme?

We previously updated clients on the JSS (announced on 24 September 2020). The original proposal requires employees to work for one third of their normal hours to enable a claim ...

New offence for employers self-isolating

New regulations come into force today (28 September 2020). They set out mandatory periods for self-isolation, and create various offences. The important one for employers to note is that under Regulation 7 ...

COVID-19 Job Support Scheme

The finer details are not known yet, and further guidance is expected shortly, but the headlines are as follows. It is open to larger employers whose turnover has fallen as ...

Covid-19: Right to Work Checks

On 30th March 2020 a number of temporary changes were made to UK right to work checks.  Checks are still necessary, and it is still an offence to knowingly employ ...

Employment Tribunals – The Impact of Covid-19

Pre-pandemic, the Tribunal system was already creaking under the weight of claims, with some Tribunals not listing final hearings for over a year after initiation of a claim.   The pandemic ...

Job Retention Scheme update

From 1 September 2020 employers have to contribute at least 10% of salary for those benefitting from the furlough scheme (adding to the payments of employer's National Insurance and minimum ...

Summer holidays – self-isolating after returning to the UK

In August the government published new guidance for workers and employees on employment rights associated with self-isolating after returning to the UK from countries where there are now quarantine rules ...

The Kickstart Programme

The government has opened its new Kickstart Scheme. The scheme is designed to create new 6-month job placements for young people currently on Universal Credit and at risk of long-term ...

The clinically extremely vulnerable – an end to shielding

From 1 August the clinically extremely vulnerable were no longer required to “shield” and could potentially return to work. This is not a green light to require everyone to return ...

Furlough and Redundancies – further clarification and HMRC guidance on how to assess your earlier claims

1. Calculating weekly pay On 31 July 2020, the Employment Rights Act 1996 (Coronavirus, Calculation of a Week's Pay) Regulations 2020 (SI 2020/814) came into force. These provide that if ...

Coronavirus Job Retention Bonus July 2020

On 31st July 2020 new guidance was released on the Coronavirus Job Retention Bonus scheme. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/job-retention-bonus/job-retention-bonus The scheme provides a one-off payment to employers of £1,000 for each employee that ...

Claiming furlough payments for employees during notice periods – Gov.UK update

After the confusion caused by the third treasury statement, the Government have clarified the position on whether furlough can be claimed to cover notice payments for employees facing redundancy. The ...

The Government’s Plan for Jobs – the end of Furlough and new Job Retention Bonus

On 8 July the Treasury published its “Plan for Jobs” setting out its plans for protecting jobs and facilitating a financial bounce back. It confirmed that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ...

Can Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) payments be claimed during notice periods?

Since the publication of the third Treasury Direction on 25 June 2020 there has been some recent discussion of whether the CJRS claims can be made to cover the salaries ...

Flexible furlough – the final stage

The Government updated the official guidance on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) on 12 June. The updated guidance now includes details of how the scheme is to be wound ...

Updates to the Furlough Scheme

On 29 May Rishi Sunak announced further details about the extension to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS).  We set out the key details below. Important dates It’s important to ...

GDPR – Covid-19 considerations for employers

If you will be requiring staff to undergo coronavirus testing, or asking them to share whether or not they or anyone they live with have experienced any symptoms of coronavirus ...

Specific sector guidance on working safely during the pandemic

Various sets of sector specific guidance (covering: 1. construction and other outdoor work; 2. Factories, plants and warehouses; 3. labs and research facilities; 4. offices and contact centres and similar ...

Links to useful information on Coronavirus

Acas: Guidance for employers and employees from Acas (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service), an independent body funded by the Government, is available here: https://www.acas.org.uk/coronavirus NHS: Health-related guidance from the National ...

IR35 reforms delayed until April 2021

The government has postponed the controversial reforms to the IR35 tax rules for 12 months in an attempt to alleviate pressure on business in view of Covid-19.  The changes, which ...

New decade….new culture?

If anyone believed that the push towards challenging workplace cultures had lost momentum the new guidance from the EHRC published today “Sexual harassment and harassment at work” will dispel that ...

Brexit – workforce planning

With no clear sight of a Brexit deal, it remains sensible for employers to consider how to prepare for a no-deal scenario.  As things stand, it is possible we could ...

Data Subject Access Requests – are you giving too much away?

Legal professional privilege, the protection of confidential communications between a solicitor and their client, is a fundamental principle of English law. Privileged documentation does not need to be disclosed in ...

Vegetarianism not protected under the Equality Act

In Conisbee v. Crossley Farms Ltd and others, an Employment Tribunal has decided that vegetarianism is not a philosophical belief that qualifies for protection under the Equality Act 2010.  It ...

IR35 changes in the private sector – will it affect you?

Further details have been released by the government in relation to the changes to off-payroll working rules (IR35).  As previously announced the responsibility for determining whether individuals should be taxed ...

Gender pay gap reporting – enforcement action against late reporters

Earlier this year the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) commenced formal investigations into six organisations that had failed to report their gender pay gap for 2019. As a result of ...

Holiday pay for term time workers

Should holiday entitlement and pay for term time only workers be calculated on a pro-rata basis at 12.07% of annual pay under the Working Time Regulations?  In Harpur Trust v. ...

Illegal contracts – breach of immigration rules

The Court of Appeal has found that an employer cannot rely on a breach of the immigration rules to argue that an employment contract is unenforceable.  In the recent decision ...

ACAS tips for employers to manage hot weather at work

As the UK temperatures soar ACAS has issued some guidance to help employers manage workplace challenges due to hot weather.  Their suggestions include: Workplace temperatures should be reasonable - the Health & ...

Private sector needs to operate new IR35 Rules for contractors from April 2020

In the October 2018 Budget the Chancellor confirmed that with effect from 6 April 2020 private sector businesses that engage contractors who supply services through an intermediary business (such as ...

Liability for the acts of “Rogue” employees

The test for whether an employer can be found vicariously liable for acts of an employee is whether the employee is acting “in the course of their employment”, and whether ...

Confusion over gender pay gap

A YouGov survey has revealed that almost two thirds of the British public are unaware of what the gender pay gap is. The survey of 1,640 adults asked whether they ...

Employer vicariously liable for MD’s drunken assault

The key test in establishing whether an employer can be found liable for acts of an employee is whether the employee is acting “in the course of their employment”.  The ...

Employment references – new ACAS guide

The giving of employment references can sometimes cause tensions for employers. Although there is usually no legal obligation to provide a reference (except in certain regulated professions), if you do ...
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