Annual leave for irregular hours and part-year workers On the 1st of April, new rules came into effect for irregular hours and part-year workers, which has amended sections of The Working Time Regulations (WTR) 1998. The changes have attempted to provide further clarification on the definitions of Irregular Hour and Part-Year workers: Irregular Hours: A worker whose number of paid hours worked in each pay period is, under the terms of their contract, wholly or mostly variable. This therefore includes zero hours, but not those whose hours are fixed but with an irregular working pattern (e.g ..read more

Government to abolish the requirement for sponsor licence renewal In a move that will be appreciated by UK-sponsoring employers, it has recently been announced that licenced sponsors will no longer need to apply for the renewal of sponsor licences every four years. This will apply to all sponsor licence holders whose licences are due to expire on or after the 6th of April 2024. The licence will automatically be extended by ten years, with no application or renewal fee. However, for those whose licences expire before the 6th of April 2024, the sponsor must follow the current renewal process a ..read more

The Government is currently consulting on the re-introduction of Employment Tribunal (ET) fees. Previously introduced in 2013, claimants were charged anywhere between £390 and £1,600 to claim the ET, depending on the type of claim. A further fee was also required should they wish to appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). This led to a significant drop in the number of cases brought to tribunal. In a case raised by UNISON, The Supreme Court ruled against the fees, stating that it was unlawful and prevented access to justice, especially where there was no guarantee that a claimant wo ..read more

Outcomes from the CIPD’s Labour Market Outlook Report. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) recently published their Labour Market Outlook report, which gives a snapshot of the UK labour market. One key point of this report is around the basic pay increase, which has seen a decrease in the Winter 2023/24 quarter, following years of increases due to COVID-19 and the cost of living crisis. In particular, the median expected basic pay increase has fallen from 5% to 4% in the private sector and is down to 3% in the public sector. Employers’ basic pay increases are expecte ..read more

What are the new work-based immigration rules coming into effect this year? There are a series of upcoming changes to immigration regulations for first-time visa applicants. See below a brief timeline of upcoming changes: From the 11th of March 2024, health and care workers will no longer be able to bring dependents (i.e. partners and children) into the UK. Additionally, care homes that wish to sponsor migrants under this route must be CQC-registered. From the 14th of March 2024, there will be a new Statement of Changes to replace the previous Shortage Occupation List (SOL). From the 4th o ..read more

Changes to paternity leave regulations will soon be coming into effect. Changes to paternity leave from the 8th of March 2024, applicable to parents whose expected week of childbirth is after the 6th of April 2024 are as follows: Employees eligible for paternity leave can now choose to take their two weeks’ entitlement in two non-consecutive blocks of one week, rather than in one block or two consecutive one-week blocks. This entitlement can be taken at any time within the first 52 weeks after birth/adoption and not just the first 56 days. Notice of intention to take paternity leave is red ..read more

From the 6th of April 2024 carers can receive one weeks’ unpaid leave within each rolling 12-month period to help manage and balance their long-term caring responsibilities alongside working obligations. To be eligible for carers leave, the employee must be a carer for a dependent with a long-term care need; their reason for absence must be to provide or arrange care for the dependent; and they must not have already exceeded their one weeks’ leave in the last 12-month period. A dependent refers to a partner, child or parent of the employee who lives in the same household and reasonably reli ..read more

The new regulations around flexible working are soon to come into effect. So what do employers need to know? With effect from 6th April 2024, employees will now be able to make a flexible working request as early as their first day of employment, whereas previously employees could only make such a request after six months of continuous service. It is important to remember that this is only a right to request and not a right to flexible working. Employers are still able to reject the request if it is not feasible for the business to use one of the eight statutory reasons for refusal. As an a ..read more

Sickness absence is inevitable. While many employees will only be absent for a few days before they can return to work, some might require longer periods off. It is therefore important to know the rules around certification and eligibility for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). An employee is eligible for SSP when they have been sick for four consecutive qualifying days, which are days that they would have normally worked. Other eligibility criteria for SSP include earning an average of at least £123 per week before tax and providing notice of sickness absence within the Company’s deadline, often ou ..read more

The Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 has recently received Royal Assent. The Act aims to improve flexibility by providing workers with a right to request more predictable terms and conditions of work. Workers can make an application to request more predictable terms as long as there is a lack of predictability, the change relates to the worker’s working pattern, and the change is intended to achieve a more predictable pattern of work. The worker must identify that they’re applying for predictable terms and conditions, as well as stating the requested change and the propos ..read more