Employment law, but in human words.

Employment law changes, they cometh but twice a year. Yet still, in my second decade of doing HR, I get my pants in a twist for about 2 weeks trying to decipher what it all means until finally (now) I’m able to pull out the proverbial HR wedgie and realise that it’s, actually, all perfectly fine and makes total sense and it’s really easy.

And with that, please sit comfy, and enjoy this very calm and crease-free summary of what’s changed, what’s gonna change, and what you need to do…

Visa sponsorship and Right to Work checks just got more annoying

Well, well well, quelle surprise, our government has made it even harder to hire talented people from outside of the UK. Since February 2024, the Immigration Order saw a 66% increase in the Immigration Health Surcharge (￡1,035 from ￡624). This rise affects the cost of sponsoring overseas employees. Great…

As well as this, we need to be much more diligent when verifying employees right to work status. The fine for getting it wrong has increased from ￡15k to ￡45 per illegal worker on your first breach, and up to ￡60k after that.?

Actions:

• Do a proper RTW check for all of your team
• Save the documents and references to their file
• You can do it online here

Holiday entitlement rules have been tweaked

For holiday years starting after 6th April, you can now calculate the holiday entitlement for part-year/irregular workers based on 12.07% of their average hours worked within the relevant pay period.

Alsoooo, you can do rolled-up holiday pay for the people covered by this part-year and irregular holiday rule. But IMHO it’s better to just pay it as they take it, so avoid if you can.

Actions:

• Review your holiday policies
• Make sure you’re reminding your team to take their holiday (I recommend doing pace updates each quarter)
• Make sure you let part-year and irregular teammates know about the adjustments

Annual wage increases have happened

Ok so statutory rates:

• Statutory family leave pay - ￡184.03 per week?
• Statutory Sick Pay - ￡116.75 per week
• I thought that the redundancy cap had increased too but I think I must have dreamt that as I now can’t find anything to suggest this (WTF)... UPDATE: I wasn't dreaming, the new cap is ￡700 per week!

And on to minimum and living wages…

• People aged over 21 - ￡11.44 per hour (NLW)
• People aged 18-20 - ￡8.60 per hour (NMW)
• People aged 16-17 and apprentices - ￡6.40 per hour

I can’t understand why we have different rates for different ages, and I’m sure one day this will finally be outed as age discrimination. So my advice if you can is to pay everyone an equal rate for equal work.

Actions:

• Review your wages, and maybe take a look at some of the lower salaries too just to ensure they don’t fall through the cracks
• Send change letters to everyone eligible for an increase
• Update your policies for those statutory amounts

Flexible Working?

This is probably the biggest change, and in fairness, it’s a good one! It’s now much more accessible for people to make a flexible working request. It’s easier for me to bullet point so here we go:

• Making a flexible working application is now a day one right?
• Employers have to respond to requests within 2 months
• Employees can make up to 2 requests in a 12 month period
• Employees don’t need to ‘justify’ anything or say how it could work from a business perspective
• Employers must consult before deciding if it can’t be accommodated, and should have evidence to back up their decision
• Rejections have to meet a list of statutory business grounds

So basically, we (employers) need to be faster, well documented, and approach these conversations with a genuine openness to creating an adaptable work environment for people. Remember, you can always do a trial!?

Actions:

• Update your policy
• If you have any live requests, make sure you’re addressing them ASAP and in line with the updates
• It’s probably a good shout to have an open discussion about flexibility at the interview stage with promising candidates

The Equality Act has had a glow-up

1 - Maternity/pregnancy-related protection

There’s now protection from discrimination for people who are breastfeeding (as well as on maternity leave or pregnant).??

2 - Discriminatory statements and indirect discrimination?

Previously, the EA only referenced discrimination in either active employment or an active recruitment process. However, this now extends this to even include statements made outside of an active recruitment process. This means employers could be held liable for discriminatory remarks made in any public context, not just during hiring interviews.?

3 - Indirect associative discrimination has been outlawed. GOSH this one was tricky to understand but I’ll do my best to explain it…?

So, indirect discrimination happens when a practice or policy that applies to everyone actually puts some or one of those people at a disadvantage due to a protected characteristic. For example, an 8am blanket start time could put people who are the primary caregivers at a disadvantage, and this tends to be women/mothers (eurgh) creating an indirect sex discrimination case.?

But now, companies may be liable for indirect associative discrimination, which is when someone who doesn’t necessarily fall within the same protected group still experiences the disadvantage that the practice or policy causes. For example, if a man/father is the primary caregiver, he can claim indirect associative discrimination, as the policy still affects him in the same negative way as the protected group.?

Bloody hell I hope I explained that ok…?

4 - Defining disability

The definition of disability has changed. Previously, a disability was defined as “A physical or mental impairment that has a 'substantial' and 'long-term' negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities. Now, the definition includes the broader impact on a person’s ability to participate fully and effectively in the workplace on an equal basis with others. This change brings a more inclusive understanding of how disabilities can affect us at work.

Actions:

• Update your policies, and consider if anyone in your team may be protected under a new or different protected characteristic (if they do, chat to them to ensure they’ve got everything they need!)
• Get ahead but considering how your policies, practices, and premises might impact different people. Play devil’s advocate with yourself a bit, think outside the box, or if you’ve got the ￡￡￡ get an inclusion and accessibility consultant in to review your setup
• Speak to your team, open up a conversation about adaptability and get people’s ideas and thoughts on how you’re doing as a business

Carer’s Leave is here!

A new day one statutory right to unpaid carer's leave is here, enhancing support for working carers. It means that carers can take up to 1 week of unpaid leave in a 12-month period for caring duties, and it doesn’t have to be in a block either which is good. It’s pretty similar to time off for dependants TBH, but the difference is it can be planned in advance as opposed to emergency things like having a sick sprog…. Is it ok to say sprog?

Actions:

• Update your Leave policy
• Consider whether it’s possible to pay people in full for this type of leave
• Make sure your teams know about this change! You may have carers that you weren’t aware of who don’t know their rights

Paternity Leave is slightly different… but still crap

Stop the press! Paternity leave can now be taken within the first 52 weeks after a child's birth or adoption, in two separate blocks. They also now only have to give 28 days’ notice instead of 15 weeks. Isn’t that great?? (Tumbleweed…)

Yeah, we still have a long way to go here, so my only two actions for you here are:

• Update your policy
• Consider what else you can do for your new paternity parents. Lots of businesses are leading the way and offering months of paid leave off, super flexibility, and options for additional leave… think about it. We need better equality for families, and we’ll never close this effin’ pay gap at this rate!

Maternity redundancy protection got better

People returning from maternity, adoption, and shared parental leave will retain their additional protection from redundancy for 6 months after returning to work. This means they have the right to be offered (automatically) suitable alternative positions in a redundancy situation. No interview, no application, you give them that flippin’ job please!

On the horizon…

WOW! Ok. Let’s say you’ve now done all of the actions outlined above, it’s probably a good idea to get ahead of the legislative changes that are coming up in October (we think)

Proactive protection against Sexual Harassment

Employers will have a statutory duty to prevent sexual harassment, and must demonstrate that they’ve taken 'reasonable steps' to safeguard employees. Tribunals will have the authority to increase compensation by up to 25% for breaches of this duty.?

Data Protection

GDPR will be replaced with a new, more straightforward system, reflecting the government's move towards reducing regulatory burdens. Can’t believe I wasted so much time learning about data portability…

Non-compete Clauses?

The government proposes limiting non-compete clauses to a maximum of three months, promoting greater labour market fluidity. So, your employment contracts might have to change!

Neo-Natal Leave

This will allow parents to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave, in addition to their existing leave entitlements, if their baby receives neonatal care that has lasted for at least 7 consecutive days in their first month. Good. It’ll be a day one right, but I think the pay entitlement will depend on how much service you have. Employers, consider what you might do for someone going through this!

That’s about it for now, but if we get a new government in October (PLEASE!) then we’ll see many more changes to our employment legislation. Word on the street, and it IS a street, is that will include:

• Proposals to improve work/life balance
• Transparency and fair pay
• Introduce ethnicity pay gap reporting
• Active steps to reduce gender pay gap
• More day one rights for workers
• Unfair Dismissal Rights from day one?
• Removal of cap on compensation for unfair dismissal
• More protection and enhanced rights relating to the menopause

That’s enough of that. As always if you need a bit of support with your policies and adapting to the new legislation please get in touch at [email protected] .