The new Carer's Leave Act 2023 comes into force on 6th April 2024, this blog provides more information about what the new Act means for businesses and individuals. What does the new Carer's Leave Act cover? The new Carer's Leave Act has been introduced to support those who have to juggle working with providing care. From 6th April 2024, all employees will be entitled to unpaid leave to arrange care for a 'dependant'. Why is Carer's Leave important? Carer's leave is intended to support working individuals when they need to provide care. CarersUK state that carer's leave has the potential ..read more

As of April 2024 the way employees can request flexible working is changing. The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 will come into force soon, here's what you need to know. What are the key changes? Employees will be able to make flexible working requests from their first day of employment This is probably the biggest change we'll see when the new legislation comes into place. Before April 2024, employees have been required to have at least 26 weeks service before they could request flexible working. Whilst lots of organisations already offer flexible working from day one, the c ..read more

The new Paternity Leave Amendment Regulations 2024 will come into effect from April 2024. This blog covers what the changes are and how they'll affect you. What are the current rules? Currently, fathers or partners who want to take Paternity Leave can take one continuous block of leave, which can either be one week or two weeks long and this leave must be taken within the first eight weeks of the birth of the child. What's changing When the new regulations come into force, paternity leave can be split into two blocks of one week and can be taken at any point in the first year after birth or a ..read more

2024 will bring some interesting Employment Law changes, check out our rundown of the top four to look out for as either an employee or an employer. 1. National Minumum Wage As of April 2024, the National minimum wage will increase. These changes represent a 9.8%. The new rates are as follows; National Minimum Wage (Age 21+) £11.44 Age 18-20 £8.60 Age 16-17 £6.40 Apprentices £6.40 What else has changed? The government also lowered the age at which people qualify for the national living wage, from 23 to 21 years old. This means that employees aged 21 and 22 currently on the national minimum ..read more

Generally speaking, employees in the UK are not permitted to record formal meetings, such as grievance or disciplinary meetings, but recent tribunal decisions have cast a light on how employers can be affected when employees choose to do this. What is covert recording? Covert recording refers to when employees record meetings without a companies consent. Sometimes employees convertly record disciplinary or grievance meetings with a view to being able to use this as evidence at an employment tribunal. When is recording allowed? This is often a bit of a grey area when it comes to Emplpyment Tri ..read more

The new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 came into force on 28th October 2023. The new Act brings some changes that it's useful for organisations to know about, check out this blog for some more information on how the changes affect businesses and ex-offenders. What's Changed? Whilst the Act covers empowering law enforcement, tackling public nuisances and much more, it also changes the way sentencing is handled, particularly 'spent' and 'unspent' convictions. Prior to the new Act, if an offender received a custodial sentence of over 4 years this would never become 'spent' and wou ..read more

On 21st November 2023, the new National Minimum Wage rates were announced which will come into effect from April 2024. These changes represent a 9.8%. The new rates are as follows; National Minimum Wage (Age 21+) £11.44 Age 18-20 £8.60 Age 16-17 £6.40 Apprentices £6.40 What else has changed? The government also lowered the age at which people qualify for the national living wage, from 23 to 21 years old. This means that employees aged 21 and 22 currently on the national minimum wage of £10.18 will receive a £1.26 or 12.6% increase to £11.44. Do you have to pay the National Minimum Wage? It ..read more

Jeremy Hunt will soon be announcing some big changes to the way we manage pensions in the UK, have a read of this quick blog for more details. What's changing? At present, employers in the UK are required to automatically enrol eligible employees into a workplace pension scheme to make sure they're saving for the future. Employees can opt-out but where they stay in the scheme, this means that whenever an eligible employee moves to a new employer they end up with a new pension pot, so over time you could have lots of separate pots. Under the newly proposed plans employees would have one 'pot f ..read more

The Chancellor has recently announced that as of April 2024 the National Minimum wage for over 23's in the UK will be at least £11 per hour. This increase is set to benefit over 2 million workers on low wages in the UK. Currently set at £10.42, this increase follows an almost 10% increase that was put in place as of April 2023. Having a National Minimum Wage rate of over £11 per hour would represent an increase that is above the current rate of inflation. According to the BBC, this increase would mean the annual earnings of someone who is full-time on the current National Minimum Wage will in ..read more

As temperatures rise during what might be some scorching summer months, it's essential for both employers and employees in the UK to be aware of the laws that govern working in hot weather. What laws cover working in hot weather? The main piece of legislation that focuses on the concerns of working in hot weather in the UK is the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. This act places a general duty on employers to ensure the health, safety and welfare of their employees while they are at work and requires employers to assess and manage risks, which includes those related to working in extre ..read more