With the end of the year fast approaching, we felt it was a good time to look forward into 2020 and what changes we can expect.
Employment Contract Law
From the 6th of April 2020, changes to the law relating to employment contracts will require Employers to provide greater detail in worker’s Contracts of Employment and to issue them earlier in the process.
Currently, a ‘statement of terms and conditions’ concerning employment details should be issued within 8 weeks of an employee’s start date. From April 2020, you will need to issue contracts from day one of employment, regardless of the length of the contract and to all workers, not just employees.
From April 2020, you will need to include:
- Details of any benefits
- Details of training requirements
- Details of paid leave and statutory leave
- Sickness Absence Terms
- Pay terms
Break in Continuity of Services
At the moment, a gap of one week or more is sufficient to break continuity of service (except for various situations where legislation dictates that continuity is preserved for a longer period such as redundancy and incapacity dismissals). The government has committed to increasing the gap required, to break continuity of service, to four weeks, making it easier for employees with irregular working patterns to accumulate continuity of service.
Holiday entitlement
Under the Working Time Regulations, workers with irregular hours have their entitlement calculated using a 12-week average. However, from 6th April 2020, holiday entitlement should be calculated based on the last 52 weeks (or the total number of weeks worked so far).
Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay Act
A further change is expected from April 2020 – the introduction of Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay Act. This will give all employed parents a day one right to 2 weeks leave if they lose a child under the age of 18, or suffer a stillbirth from 24 weeks of pregnancy. Employed parents will also be able to claim pay for this period, subject to them meeting the eligibility criteria.
Employers should start to consider these changes now and make the necessary changes to policies and procedures.
If you would like further advice in any area of HR, please contact our HR Consultancy Team on 01302 341 344.
By Louise Turner Dip Mgmt (Open) Assoc CIPD – HR Business Partner