We have been expecting some employment legislation changes for a while now and many are still going through parliament however, a number of developments have come into effect this month that may affect your business:
- National minimum wage rises
From 1st April, national minimum wage rates increased. For further details, please see the government website – https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates
- Increase in statutory family-related pay and sick pay
On 3rd April, the weekly rate of pay for statutory family related pay (including maternity, adoption, paternity, shared parental and parental bereavement pay) increased to £156.66.
The weekly rate of Statutory sick pay (SSP) also increased from 6th April up to £99.35.
- Changes to right to work checks
On 6th April, the temporary measure of allowing documents to be checked remotely should have come to an end however this has been extended to the end of September 2022.
A new system is being introduced to allow for those with British and Irish passports to evidence their identity remotely although manual checks of the original documents will still be allowed. Whilst the legislation comes into effect on 6th April, the system may not be ready at this point.
Finally, from 6th April, for those who hold a biometric residence card, biometric residence permit or frontier worker permit, the physical cards are no longer acceptable for the right to work checks. Employees must use the Home Office online service to evidence their right to work.
- Update of statutory redundancy pay calculations
On 6th April, new limits on statutory redundancy pay came into effect. Redundancy pay is calculated based on an individual’s weekly pay, length of service and age. The maximum weekly pay amount increased to £571.
- Gender Pay Gap Reporting
For those with 250 or more employees, the gender pay gap reporting deadline was 4th April for the private sector (30th March for public sector). Reports must be published on the company’s website and on the gender pay gap portal on the government website. A narrative may be provided to explain a pay gap and to set out the steps they are taking to reduce the gap.
A reminder of recent changes
On 24th February and 24th March, further Covid-19 restrictions and support were removed. This means individuals are no longer required to self-isolate if they test positive for Covid-19 although the government does still recommend self-isolating for 5 days where possible and to limit their contact. Support payments were removed including businesses being able to claim back SSP payments for those self-isolating. SSP is no longer given from Day 1 and we therefore return to 3 waiting days before the employee is eligible for SSP payments on Day 4 of their absence.
What’s to come?
There are a number of changes that are currently going through parliament that we are expecting to see later this year and one we are watching closely is the Employment Bill.
If the Employment Bill comes into play, it is likely to include (but not limited to) the following:
- Workers can request a more stable contract after 26 weeks service
- Flexible working rights to be enhanced, including the right to request from Day 1
- The extension of protection against redundancy regarding pregnancy, maternity, adoption, shared parental leave which may include the extension of redundancy protection to 6 months post return to work after maternity leave and similar for adoption leave and shared parental leave.
- Neonatal leave and pay
- Carers will have a new right to 1 week’s unpaid leave per year
- Legislation to ensure that tips given by customers in restaurants and retained by employees in full
- To break continuous service, the time will be extended to 4 weeks from 1 week
- Legislation making it compulsory for employers to publish their modern slavery statements on a new government-run registry
If you have any queries with regards to any of these changes, please get in touch with your usual HR Support contact.
By Rachel Storey Dip CII – HR Support & Business Development