This April sees a raft of employment legislation adjustments coming into drive, requiring employers to replace employees insurance policies and be certain that managers are briefed.  Under is a fast guidelines, together with hyperlinks to our earlier extra detailed posts.  Please do get in contact together with your normal HSF contact if you want additional data or help with updating insurance policies.

Modifications to versatile work requests: all proposed adjustments now confirmed for six April

• Laws had been made earlier within the 12 months making the proper to request versatile working a day one proper from 6 April 2024.
• A second set of laws was required to convey amendments to main laws into drive, together with to permit two requests a 12 months and shorten the time for employers to reply to two months.  On twenty ninth March these laws had been lastly printed on the federal government laws web site, confirming the 6 April graduation date.  Acas’s revised statutory code additionally comes into drive on 6 April.  See right here for additional particulars of the adjustments and right here for particulars of revisions to the Code.  Versatile work insurance policies will have to be amended and managers made conscious of the important thing adjustments, particularly the shorter timeframe for responding and the necessity to seek the advice of with the worker earlier than rejecting a request.
• Acas has beforehand stated that it’s going to publish non-statutory steerage to accompany the code – this was not but out there on the time of writing.

Modifications to household depart rights

• New proper to unpaid carers’ depart: day one proper to as much as one week’s depart (unpaid) per rolling 12 months, to supply or make  preparations for care of dependants with long-term care wants. See right here for extra particulars. Employers might need a stand-alone coverage or to contemplate including the brand new proper to any current coverage overlaying day without work for dependants.  The place different household depart insurance policies cross-reference rights for carers, it could even be price updating these to flag which forms of depart must be used for which functions.
• Minor adjustments to paternity depart and pay: paternity depart insurance policies will want updating to replicate that employed fathers and companions (of youngsters whose EWC/anticipated date of placement for adoption is after 6 April 2024) can now take paternity depart as two separate weeks at any time within the first 12 months from delivery;  the discover requirement for deliberate dates can be decreased to twenty-eight days. See right here for additional particulars.

Modifications to redundancy safety – precedence over vacancies

The precedence over appropriate various vacancies, if provisionally chosen for redundancy, might be prolonged to cowl workers who’re pregnant and, for these taking maternity, adoption or shared parental depart (the place a minimal 6 consecutive weeks’ shared parental depart have been taken), for the interval by means of to 18 months after childbirth/adoption (along with throughout the depart itself).  See right here for extra element.  Now we have recorded a podcast on these adjustments, together with a extra detailed briefing reviewing these and different current adjustments to the legislation on redundancies, out there to purchasers on request.

Modifications to Working Time Laws: irregular hours/part-year employees’ annual depart

On 1 January 2024 the Working Time Laws had been amended to introduce adjustments to the strategy of statutory vacation accrual and to allow rolled up pay for irregular hours and part-year employees – these adjustments come into drive for depart years beginning on or after 1 April 2024.  See right here for particulars of the adjustments and right here for factors arising from authorities steerage.

As bonus season approaches, it could even be price contemplating the influence of the amendments on statutory vacation pay entitlement in relation to bonuses.  As mentioned in our earlier publish, there’s a concern that the adjustments made to the laws to codify the proper to regular remuneration throughout vacation may seize extra bonus schemes than historically thought, and the design of the scheme might affect the the chance of claims.  Related components will embrace whether or not the bonus is intrinsically linked to efficiency, the regularity of fee and whether or not taking statutory vacation doubtlessly reduces the quantity of bonus.  Please do get in contact if you want to contemplate this additional.

Modifications to caps on tribunal compensation, statutory advantages and minimal wage

• From 6 April 2024, the cap on the unfair dismissal compensatory award will increase from £105,707 to £115,115 and the cap on weekly pay (used to calculate the unfair dismissal fundamental award and statutory redundancy pay) will increase from £643 to £700. This offers a most unfair dismissal award of £136,115 (or, if much less, 12 months’ pay).
• The bands for harm to emotions awards have additionally been elevated for claims offered on or after 6 April 2024;  the bottom band begins at £1,200, the center band at £11,700, and the best band begins at £35,200 with a cap of £58,700 (save in distinctive circumstances).
• From 6 April 2024 the weekly fee of statutory sick pay will increase to £116.75 (from £109.40) and from 7 April 2024 the weekly flat fee of statutory maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental pay will increase to £184.03 (from £172.48).
• The nationwide minimal wage charges enhance from 1 April 2024. Employees of 21 years and older might be entitled to be paid a minimal nationwide dwelling wage of £11.44 per hour (beforehand £10.42 for these aged 23 years+ and £10.18 for these aged 21 or 22).

And a fast reminder of different adjustments anticipated later this 12 months…

• The Authorities’s revised draft statutory code on dismissal and re-engagement is awaiting parliamentary approval and is predicted to be introduced into drive ‘later within the Summer time’ – see right here for extra particulars.
• For TUPE transfers happening on or after 1 July 2024, employers with no acceptable worker representatives in place might be allowed to tell and seek the advice of affected workers straight the place (i) they make use of fewer than 50 workers in whole, or (ii) there are, or are more likely to be, fewer than 10 transferring workers (no matter dimension the employer is).
• A brand new proper to request predictable phrases is predicted in September 2024 (see right here). This may give employees and company employees the proper twice a 12 months to request a predictable work sample the place their contract is for 12 months or much less or is for an unpredictable variety of hours or days of the week or occasions, topic to a 26 week service requirement.  Acas has consulted on a draft Code however has but to publish a remaining model.
• From 26 October 2024 the Employee Safety (Modification of Equality Act 2010) Act will introduce a brand new proactive obligation on employers to take affordable steps to stop sexual harassment (ie, undesirable conduct of a sexual nature) of workers in the midst of employment.  The EHRC is predicted to publish a brand new statutory code of apply within the close to future (more likely to be based mostly on the EHRC’s technical steerage printed in January 2020, mentioned right here), and employers will then have to take acceptable steps to adjust to the obligation.  Insurance policies and supervisor/employees coaching will want reviewing and sure updating to replicate the brand new code.
• The Authorities has backed a Personal Members’ Invoice, the Paternity Depart (Bereavement) Invoice, to enhance depart rights for fathers or companions the place a mom, or an individual with whom a baby is positioned or anticipated to be positioned for adoption, dies.  Particulars and timing are nonetheless to be confirmed.
• The Normal Election!  Hearken to our podcast for a dialogue of Labour Occasion employment legislation proposals.