The Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health and Social Care have issued a call for evidence to explore recently announced proposals to reform the fit note process. Proposal The Government recently announced its proposal to reform the fit note process as part of its Back to Work Plan for welfare reforms. In particular, the Government wishes to change the way fit notes are issued. If the Government's proposals are confirmed, fit notes would no longer be issued by GPs. Instead they would be issued by specialist work and health professionals who would assess the person's heal ..read more

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has confirmed that in whistleblowing detriment cases, the Tribunal should not look behind the motive of the decision-maker in order to consider whether a third party was manipulating the situation. Whistleblowing protection Whistleblowers are protected from detriment and dismissal as a result of having blown the whistle. The two types of statutory protection are found under sections 47B and 103A of the Employment Rights Act 1996 respectively. The fact that protection against detriment and dismissal derive from different parts of the Act means that the two t ..read more

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has considered how to recover a 'series of deductions' for holiday pay purposes, in light of last year's Supreme Court judgment in the case of Agnew. Background It is possible to bring a claim for unpaid holiday as an unlawful deductions from wages claim under the Employment Rights Act 1996 (Act). The Act permits claimants to claim for a "series of deductions". In other words, claimants can link a series of underpayments into one claim. The claim must be brought within three months of the last deduction in the series and up to two years' worth of underpayme ..read more

The Supreme Court has confirmed that the lack of statutory protection against detriment for participating in industrial action breaches the right of freedom of assembly under article 11 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Background In the case of Secretary of State for Business and Trade v Mercer, Mrs Mercer was employed as a support worker by AFG and was a workplace representative for the trade union UNISON. She was involved in planning strike action. She gave media interviews about the strikes and participated in the strikes herself. She was then suspended from work, and was told th ..read more

The Government has confirmed that the new statutory Code of Practice on dismissal and re-engagement will be brought into force by July 2024, subject to parliamentary approval. Background The Government committed to publishing a new statutory Code of Practice on dismissal and re-engagement (Statutory Code) in order to encourage transparent practices and meaningful staff consultation in scenarios where an employer is considering dismissing staff and offering them re-engagement on new terms. Importantly, the Code does not change the law in this area, but is intended to help employers follow the c ..read more

A recent EAT decision demonstrates the importance of evidencing reasons for post-TUPE changes to terms and conditions of employment, in order to successfully defend claims. Post-transfer changes to terms and conditions The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE) operate to protect the workforce where a business is sold or where the responsibility for providing a service transfers from one entity to another. In either of these scenarios, staff contracts automatically transfer from the outgoing to incoming employer. Changes to the terms and conditions of transferri ..read more

From 6 April 2024, employees in England, Wales and Scotland have a statutory right to one week's unpaid carer's leave. Both the government and ACAS have now published helpful guidance on how carer's leave will work in practice. What is the new right to carer's leave? Employees are entitled to take up to a maximum of one week unpaid leave per year to care for or arrange care for a dependant with a long term care need. The dependant does not need to be a family member and can ultimately be anyone who relies on the employee for care. A long term care need is considered as: A physical or mental i ..read more

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has upheld an Employment Tribunal's decision to reject a race discrimination claim, despite finding that the Tribunal had erred in some of its reasoning. The burden of proof rule in discrimination Where key facts are in dispute in litigation, the law imposes a burden of proof to determine which side has the ultimate responsibility of proving their case to the Tribunal. As a general rule, it is for the claimant to prove their case, ie that they are entitled to bring the claim and entitled to the remedy sought. Section 136 of the Equality Act 2010 imposes a d ..read more

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has found that an employer was justified in dismissing an employee due to a breakdown in working relationships, despite the fact the employer did not follow a process or offer a right of appeal. The law on unfair dismissal Employees with more than two years' service are entitled to claim ordinary unfair dismissal if their employment is terminated. In order to dismiss an employee fairly, the employer must have identified a fair reason for dismissal. In cases where the reason for dismissal is a breakdown in a working relationship, this can form the basis of termina ..read more

The guidance (the Guidance) has been re-framed around the matter of strategic place planning, specifically ensuring sufficient school places and managing any excess capacity which there might be in the system. This update aligns with the renewed net capacity assessment programme initiated in 2023 in order to identify spare capacity in the system and ensure effective use of space and curriculum planning. The Guidance, which comes into force on 22 April 2024, focuses on local authorities, academy trusts and the DfE working together in order to support local authorities in the delivery of their ..read more