November 2011  - Recent Proposals

Change to unfair dismissal qualification period. This would see the qualification period for the right to claim unfair dismissal extended from one to two years with effect from 6 April 2012.

Employment Tribunal fees to be introduced. This would see claimants paying fees totalling £1,250 prior to a case being heard. The claimant would only get these fees back if they win. This would take effect in April 2013.

Protected conversations. This would enable employers to have open and frank discussions with their staff about performance issues, the employee’s plans for retirement, etc without fear of them being used against them at employment tribunal, because the employee will not later be able to use the conversation as evidence against the employer in any tribunal proceedings.

1st October 2011 - the Agency Workers Regulations came into force, entitling agency workers to “favourable treatment” from day one and the same basic employment conditions as permanent staff after twelve weeks in the same role.  See full article about employer’s obligations here.

1st October 2011 – new National Minimum Wage rates announced.  Click here for details.

1st July 2011 – The Bribery Act is introduced. For the purposes of this Act bribery is defined as the giving or taking of a reward in return for acting dishonestly and/or in breach of the law.

21st April 2011 – Is everyone entitled to the Royal Wedding bank holiday? No, not necessarily?   There is no statutory right to take it as leave. It is only where workers’ employment contract states that they are entitled to take all bank and public holidays as leave that they may then do so. If the contract and needs of the business deem 29th April to be a normal working day employers are entitled to enforce this.

April 2011

• Provisions of The Equality Act 2010 relating to positive action in recruitment and promotion come into force on 6 April
• The Bribery Act 2010 was due to come into force requiring employers to have procedures in place to prevent bribery and corruption but the Government have delayed implementation

• The default retirement age (DRA) – on 29 July 2010 the Government published a consultation paper on proposals to phase out the DRA from 6 April 2011 and remove the associated statutory retirement procedures. Regulations making it unlawful to dismiss someone on grounds of age, unless there is objective justification, will take effect from 6 April. Employers will be able to retain a compulsory retirement age only if they can objectively justify it.

• Additional paternity leave (APL) applies to those with a baby due on or after 3 April 2011. This allows the father (or mother’s partner) to take part of the mother’s maternity leave so as to allow the mother to return to work.
• New rates of statutory maternity pay (SMP), statutory paternity pay (SPP), statutory adoption pay (SAP) and statutory sick pay (SPP) will take effect: SMP, SAP and SPP rates will increase from £124.88 to £128.73 and SSP will increase from £79.15 to £81.60. The weekly earnings threshold for the SMP, SPP and SAP payments will also increase from £97 to £102.
• If the National Insurance Contributions Bill 2010-11 is passed by Parliament, increases the rates of NI contributions paid by employees, employers and the self-employed by one percentage point – expected from 6 April 2011.
• The right to request flexible working will be extended to parents of children under 18 from 6 April 2011. The Government have said they will consult further on extending this right to all employees.
• The right to request time off for training – was due to be extended to cover all employers. However, the Government have said this will not now happen, to allow more discussion and evaluation.
• There will be a public holiday in the UK on 29 April 2011 to mark the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on that day.

27th January 2011 – the government has decided to ahead with proposals to scrap the Default Retirement Age with effect from October this year.  This means that employers are no longer able to retire staff at 65.

29th July 2010 - proposals published to phase out the current Default Retirement Age.  This means employers will no longer be able to enforce compulsory redundancy at 65.  If approved, this change will take place from 6th April 2011.

27th July 2010 – figures just released show that the number of employment tribunals increased by 56% compared to last year. This has been attributed to the recession forcing employers to make cut backs and the increasing trend of employees making multiple claims. The top three reasons for bringing a tribunal claim were cited as Working Time Directive, Unauthorised Deduction of Wages and Unfair Dismissal.

6 April 2010 – regulations came into force allowing parents of children due on or after 3 April 2011 to transfer up to six month’s of the mother’s maternity leave to the father.  Further details for practical implementation of this new legislation to follow in early 2011.

6 April 2010 – new ‘fit notes’ replace the traditional ‘sick notes’ issued by doctors across the UK.  Read our Fit Note Q&A here.