Employment Tribunal Awards and Limits for 2024
Each year the Employment Law Tribunal awards and limits are updated, and rates are updated annually. These are now live
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It may be that the government has abandoned the long-anticipated Employment Bill, nevertheless, 2023 certainly looks like it is going to be a busy one with new changes in Employment Law in 2023.
In our first Employment Law article of this year, we take a look at what HR and employment law has in store for you as an Employer and HR Teams, why not take a read, we cover so much in our article today including, the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, Statutory Payments increases, what they are and when they increase, the King’s Coronation and your obligations, Minimum Service Levels during Strikes, Changes to rules on flexible working, Family Friendly, and tips and gratuities, and much more.
This most certainly is one of the biggest changes and affects all EU derived Employment Law, it is certain that the government is pressing on with the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, which, if passed, will allow it to eradicate all employment and health and safety legislation derived from the EU by the end of 2023.
It is part of the government’s commitment to ensuring that regulation/s are fit for purpose. If revoked it would include changes to working time legislation, agency worker laws, and TUPE along with varying others.
At this stage it would not be prudent to speculate as we simply do not know the outcome, the Bill has attracted quite a bit of criticism and it is not clear whether it will proceed in its current form. What is known is that if passed internal policy and procedure would need to be updated in line with the reforms.
In the future as an Employer, we advise you to pay attention to this and to consider and apply any of the provisions for your Employees.
Each year statutory payments increase, and as an Employer, you are legally obliged to meet these minimum requirements, a failure to do so could lead to a claim in a tribunal, we cover each of these below:
National Living and National Minimum Wage Increases
It is safe to say that National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) increases every year and in April.
For 2023 the increases are steep to say the least, as an Employer you will need to factor the uplifts in, the largest uplift is 10.9%, an uplift of £1.00 per hour. From April 2023, these are:
In addition, an accommodation offset – £9.10 (4.6% uplift to the current rate of £8.70)
Family Friendly Statutory Payments
Along with National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) increases, Family Friendly Statutory Payments are also increased and in April each year.
Therefore, from April 2023 the rates will increase for:
Statutory Sick Pay
Along with National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) increases, Family Friendly Payments, and Statutory Sick Payments are also increased in April each year.
Therefore, from April 2023 the rates will be:
Statutory Redundancy Pay
In addition to the above rate increases, the statutory redundancy pay maximum weekly amount will be reviewed. Any increase (if applicable) will be published in February 2023 for a 6 April 2023 change.
If you are considering restructuring we would strongly recommend you contact us for legal assistance.
With the announcement of the King’s coronation on Saturday, 6 May 2023 and, to celebrate, the UK will celebrate with an additional bank holiday on Monday, 8 May 2023.
As this is an additional bank holiday the wording of your Employee’s contract of employment will determine whether or not they will benefit from this additional bank holiday, as an Employer you should refer to the individual Contract of Employment and the terms.
As an Employer, you may choose to grant the extra day, even where your Employees are not contractually entitled to it, as a one-off discretionary gesture.
As an Employer, you will need to consider and apply the provisions for your Employees.
To read best practice and to find out if your contractual clauses allow your Employees to take the day off click here
It may have been delayed but the government has announced that it will make changes to the right to request flexible working. Rather than there being a requirement of 26 weeks service it will become your Employees right from the 1st day of employment, your Employees will also be able to make up to two requests each year (as opposed to one as it currently is) as an Employer you must deal with the application (and any appeal) within two months (as opposed to 3 months as it currently is).
As an Employer, you will still be able to turn down requests if you have a business reason for doing so on the same grounds as currently exist, worth noting here as an Employer you are required to consult with Employees prior to rejecting a flexible working request.
As an Employer, you will need to consider and apply the provisions for your Employees.
To read best practice and to read more about how flexible working affects you, and your Employees click here
The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill will provide pregnant Employees and new parents greater protection from redundancy during pregnancy and for 6 months after their return to work.
As it currently stands, under current rules, before making an Employee on maternity leave, shared parental leave, or adoption leave redundant, as an Employer you are obliged to offer them a suitable alternative vacancy (where one exists) in priority to anyone else who is provisionally selected for redundancy.
The introduction of the new bill will extend protection, applying it to pregnant Employees before they start maternity leave and for a period of 6 months after they return to work. It will also protect new parents returning to work from adoption or shared parental leave.
As an Employer, you will need to consider and apply the provisions for your Employees.
In a welcome move the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill will allow eligible parents to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave to enable them to spend more time with babies requiring care, in addition to any maternity leave.
In line with the reforms neonatal care leave and pay will be available as a right from the 1st day for parents of babies who are admitted into hospital up to the age of 28 days and who have a continuous stay in hospital of seven days or more.
As an Employer, you will need to consider and apply the provisions for your Employees.
The Carers Leave Bill will see the introduction of one week’s unpaid leave to help Employees with long-term caring responsibilities balance these with their paid work. It will be a right from day one and leave can be taken in one single block or on individual days.
As an Employer, you will need to consider and apply the provisions for your Employees.
We have seen much industrial action over recent months much to the dismay of Employers, Employees, and unions; on 10 January 2023, the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill was introduced and proposes to require key public services to maintain minimum safety levels during strike action.
The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill is applicable to a range of sectors including transport, health, fire and rescue, education, and nuclear and border security.
As an Employer facing a strike you would be able to serve a ‘work notice’ on the union identifying the Employees that you need to meet the service levels required. Once notice has been given, the union is under a duty to take all reasonable steps to ‘ensure that all members of the union who are identified in the work notice comply with it and continue to work. Any union that doesn’t comply will lose its immunity from being sued and, Employees who refuse to turn up to work in breach of the notice can be fairly dismissed.
At the time of writing the bill is now at the stage of 2nd reading, the first reading saw a majority of 60 with 309 voting in favour compared to 249 against.
The government is supporting a Private Members Bill, the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Bill this will allow individuals to keep all of the tips and gratuities they have earned, for these to be paid to the, and without any deductions.
Tips include all service charges, or additional payments made whether by card or cash.
In addition to this, as an Employer, you will need to demonstrate that you have distributed tips fairly and transparently. The government said that it will publish a Statutory Code of Practice setting out how tips should be distributed to ensure fairness and transparency.
As an Employer, you will need to consider and apply the provisions for your Employees.
We are experts dealing with any HR and Employment Law matter, we can assist you with advice, guidance and support, should you require policy writing we are experts in this area; you can contact one of our team today and we can assist you; contact us on: 0333 0069489 or email us on: [email protected]
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Each year the Employment Law Tribunal awards and limits are updated, and rates are updated annually. These are now live
Each year statutory payments, employment rates and limits increase, this occurs in April each year, all in all the rises
In our article we take you through 3 important pay changes that as an Employer and your HR team need
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