There are some significant changes coming in next month. Are you ready for these changes? 1 April 2024 National Minimum Wage/National Living Wage The National Living Wage (NLW) for adults aged 21 and over will increase to £11.44 per hour. This is a change from the current NLW as this applies to workers aged 23 and over. The National Minimum Wage rates that take effect on 1 April 2024 are: Workers aged 18-20 £8.60 Workers aged 16-17 £6.40 Apprentices £6.40 4 April 2024 Gender pay gap reporting Private sector employers in Great Britain with 250 or more employees must publish their gender pay g ..read more

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (“BEIS”) published the government’s response to its flexible working consultation. The response confirms that employees will gain the right to request flexible working from the first day of their employment. The report states that removing the current 26-week qualifying period will make the right to request flexible working accessible to more employees (an estimated additional 2.2 million people), supporting labour market participation and improving workforce diversity. Whilst the legislation remains a right t ..read more

If you are an aggrieved party seeking to take action and resolve a dispute then, depending on the nature of the dispute and any prior agreement between the parties, you may have a choice as to which method of dispute resolution to use. The main dispute resolution processes include litigation, arbitration and mediation. What is mediation? Mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution which is flexible, voluntary and confidential. A neutral third-party—a ‘mediator’— helps both parties to resolve their disputes out of court by facilitating a discussion. The specially trained mediator ..read more

The Job Retention Scheme enables employers who have no work for employees to receive financial support from the government to pay these employees while they are on leave or furloughed and not able to work. The key features of the scheme are: all UK employees are potentially eligible. Partners and self-employed persons are not eligible there is a possibility that workers (the intermediate category between employee and self-employed) may be covered but the position is not clear. in order to access the scheme, employers will need to designate affected employees as “furloughed workers” and notify ..read more

The Home Office has announced that from 6 April 2022, the right to work of those who hold a biometric residence card (BRC), biometric residence permit (BRP) or frontier worker permit (FWP) can only be done online. What will employers need to do from 6 April 2022? From this date, employers must carry out a check for individuals holding a BRC, BRP or FWP using the Home Office’s online right to work check service. It will no longer be an option to complete a manual right to work check using a physical BRC, BRP or FWP. The employer must have the individual’s date of birth and a valid right to ..read more

There is not a lot of new legislation coming in in 2022 but there are a few changes. National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage There are wage increases employers will need to factor in. From 1 April 2022, the National Living Wage, paid to workers aged 23 and over, will increase by 59 pence to £9.50. The National Minimum Wage rates will also increase as follows: Those aged 23 and over will receive £9.50 per hour – an increase of 59 pence Those aged 21-22 will receive £9.18 per hour – an increase of 82 pence Those aged 18 – 20 will receive £6.83 – an increase of 27 pence Those ag ..read more

Below we set out some significant dates and changes to employment law this year. Please do not hesitate to get in contact if you would like to discuss any of these. 1st April 2021 National minimum wage National Living Wage is extended to workers aged 23 and over and increases to £8.91 per hour. The national minimum wage increases: from £8.20 to £8.36 for 21 to 22 year olds from £6.45 to £6.56 for 18 to 20 year olds from £4.55 to £4.62 for 16 and 17 year olds from £4.15 to £4.30 for apprentices. 4th April 2021 New statutory rates Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP), S ..read more

With most employees working from home, for employers this can bring advantages and disadvantages. One of the key disadvantages is that employers may feel that they are not getting as much out of their employees as they would if they were in the office.  With more tech companies providing products which help monitor your employees when WFH the question arises of whether employers can use these products to monitor employees lawfully in accordance with data protection laws? There are a number of factors you will need to think through if you are considering monitoring employees: Lawfulness of ..read more