Introduction – Legal update for March 2023:

We present to our clients the first of our quarterly updates for 2023. We hope that the New Year has started well. As we enter the first quarter, there are a few upcoming changes to be aware of, detailed below. We’d like to wish you Happy Easter and starting to enjoy the longer days.

Increases for statutory payments from April 2023

  • Statutory Maternity (SMP)
  • Statutory Paternity (SPP)
  • Statutory Adoption (SAP)
  • Parental Bereavement (SPBP)
  • Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) will all increase from £156.66 to £172.48 per week.

Additionally, the rate of statutory sick pay (SSP) is also set to increase from £99.35 to £109.40 per week.

For the 2023 / 2024 rates and thresholds for employers click here.

National Living Wage for over-23s, will increase to £10.42 an hour from April 2023. The Oxford Living wage will increase to £11.35.

If you would like to conduct a Benchmarking exercise for your team, please contact us.

Right to work checks – reminder

From 1st of October 2022, there was a permanent system of digital right to work checks put in place. This new system is similar if not identical to the temporary process used throughout COVID-19, so it should be easy for employers and employees to carry out these checks when necessary. However, if you do need some support or have not used the digital service, SYLO are happy to support you with this small but vital part of your onboarding process.

Holiday pay simplification for part year workers

When the long-awaited Supreme Court judgment was delivered in the case of Harpur Trust v Brazel, confirming that whether a permanent worker works a full or part year they are entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday entitlement, the challenges on how this would be calculated in practice was underestimated.

Another consultation is looking at proposals to simplify holiday calculations for those workers who don’t work a full year, such as term time workers or those on zero hours.

All workers, regardless of how much of the year they work, get 5.6 weeks leave annually, which can lead to those zero hours workers getting disproportionately more holiday than year-round colleagues. Watch this space for developments and how it might affect your business.

If this affects any of your workforce and you would like some further advice as to how this works in practice, please contact us on enquiries@sylobeyondhr.com or read our Holiday Calculations Advice Sheet.

Carers Leave

The Carer’s Leave Bill, which could see working carers get access to one week of unpaid carer’s leave, has been passed by MPs. The Bill will now face scrutiny in the House of Lords.

If passed, this bill will grant employees a new entitlement to take up to one week’s unpaid leave per year to provide/arrange care for dependents with long term care needs. This will be a day one right for all employees regardless of length of service. Carers taking this leave will not need to present how or for whom it will be used for.

This bill will come into effect on the day the Act is passed through the House of Lords, which should be in early 2023. We will keep you posted on when this new right comes into effect.

Pregnancy and maternity protection – reminder

The government has now given its support in increasing the level of protection against redundancies for new and expectant mothers. Employers are already required to provide suitable replacement roles, if there are any, as an alternative to redundancy to workers on maternity, parental, or adoption leave. Employees that fit into this category should receive preferential treatment over other workers who could be made redundant. This new measure enables the extension of this protection to expectant women who are not yet on maternity leave and to new parents who are returning to work after taking maternity, parental, or adoption leave. Redundancy protection periods will be extended to begin on the day an employee informs her employer that she is pregnant and end 18 months after the baby is born. This will give women an additional six months of protection.

Menopause – a protected characteristic?

The recommendation from the Women and Equalities Committee of the House of Commons for menopause to become a protected characteristic has been rejected. However, the profile of issues linked to menopause has been raised and is being addressed by forward thinking employers.

If you would like your company to be one of the forerunners implementing policy on this issue, please contact us to discuss your Menopause Policy.

Potential upcoming Developments

Fire and rehire – draft Code of Practice issued

A draft code of practice on the “fire and rehire” approach to changing terms and conditions of employment has been issued by the government.

It’s important to stress that the code, currently out for consultation, does not prevent an employer changing terms and conditions where this is essential for business reasons. However, it does set out the steps an employer is expected to follow. In practice, these are already steps a tribunal would look at when assessing whether a claim of unfair dismissal succeeds. Employers seeking to make legitimate changes and taking advice on doing so safely will already be doing taking these steps.

If you’d like some advice on changing terms and conditions safely in your business, email us.

“I’m done” was not resignation

This case concerned a factory supervisor who handed in her keys, and announced “I’m done”. She’d had issues with a colleague and felt she had been bullied and was in a state of anxiety. She subsequently submitted a fit note but was instead processed as having resigned, with no one checking to see whether that was what she meant.

This is an example of the temptation some managers can fall into – someone who says “I quit” or similar in a heated situation, is often also someone who for whatever reason, is causing the business some issues, therefore managers see an opportunity for an easy way out. But it’s essential that you check a resignation is definitely meant.  If there is anything ambiguous about the employee’s actions or words, or if the circumstances were heated, then double checking with them prior to processing their resignation documents is best practice.

If you require assistance with any employee issues, please get in touch.

Flexible working – proposal to become a ‘Day One’ right

The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill was discussed on the floor of the House of Commons on 24 February 2023.

Assuming the Bill goes through Parliament unamended, this is going to be a right for employees to request (albeit from day one of the employment relationship), rather than a right to have, flexible working.

As a reminder, in addition to making flexible working requests a ‘Day One’ right, the Government consultation proposes:

  • Requiring employers to suggest alternatives if they reject the employee’s request
  • Allowing the change to be temporary rather than permanent
  • Reviewing whether the eight business reasons for refusing a request remain valid.

Neonatal Leave and Pay (Expected in 2023)

The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill would introduce two new rights: neonatal care leave and statutory neonatal care pay. Both rights would require the Secretary of State to pass regulations in order to bring them into force and specify the details of how they operate.

The right to neonatal leave would be a day one right, available to all employees. It would apply to parents of children who spend at least one week in neonatal care. The maximum duration of the leave and how and when it must be taken would be set by regulations but would be at least one week and the period in which it has be taken would last a minimum of 68 weeks starting from the date of the child’s birth.

The right to neonatal care pay, during periods of neonatal care leave, would be available to all employees with at least 26 weeks’ continuous service and whose weekly earnings are at or above the lower earnings limit. The level and duration of pay would be set by regulations but the limit that could be claimed would be at least 12 weeks.

The Bill was considered by a Public Bill Committee on 7 September 2022. All contributions were in favour of the Bill and all four amendments were agreed to, without division. There is still no firm date as to when this Bill will be passed, we will keep you appraised of developments.

Finally…

As a valued client, we would like to continue to keep you updated on key topics which we feel would be of interest to you and your business, for example employment-related developments and hot topics, details of our online training programmes and our quarterly Employment Law updates.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support and, should you wish to explore any of the topics highlighted in this bulletin, we would be happy to discuss them further with you. Please drop us a line at enquiries@sylobeyondhr.com.