Changes to employment law in April

Changes to employment law in April

News

This Newsflash summarises the changes to employment law which are due to come into force in April and over the next few months.

Implications

Employers should ensure that their line managers and Human Resources Departments are aware of the changes to employment law which are taking place in April. In addition, payroll departments, or those employees responsible for administering pay, will need to be made aware of the increase in statutory payments which also takes place in early April.

However we are still awaiting confirmation from the Government on the exact date that various other changes to employment law are going to come into force. Therefore employers need to be aware that, unlike in previous years, some changes to employment law could take effect in May, June, July or August.

We will send out further Newsflashes as soon as we have information on exactly when these further changes to employment law will come into force.

Details

Changes to be introduced on 6 April 2013

Reduction in Collective Redundancy Consultation Period

The current minimum period of consultation where an employer is proposing to dismiss 100 or more employees is 90 days.

When the proposal to make 100 or more employees redundant occurs on or after 6 April 2013, the minimum period of consultation will be reduced to 45 days.

However the existing minimum period of 30 days consultation for proposals to make between 20 to 99 employees redundant will remain the same.

Furthermore, employees whose fixed-term contracts are expiring (on a particular date or on completion of a particular task) will no longer need to be taken into account when calculating the numbers of proposed dismissals for collective redundancy consultation purposes. Such employees will still count towards the numbers of dismissals if the fixed term is being brought to an end early.

During April ACAS will issue new guidance on collective redundancies.

Increase in Statutory Sick Pay

The rate of statutory sick pay will increase from £85.85 per week to £86.70 per week.

Changes to Codes of Practice for skilled migrant workers

New Codes of Practice for skilled migrant workers from outside the European Economic Area will apply from 6 April 2013. These codes set out which occupations are sufficiently skilled to qualify for tier 2 of the points-based system, minimum rates of pay for each occupation and how employers should carry out a resident labour market test and to determine whether there are existing workers within the UK who could do the job.

Changes to be introduced on 7 April 2013

Increase in Statutory ‘family leave’ payments

The standard rate of statutory maternity pay, statutory paternity pay (including additional pay) and statutory adoption pay will all increase from £135.45 per week to £136.78 per week.

The weekly earning threshold will increase from £107.00 to £109.00.

Changes expected to come into force by the end of April

Consolidation of National Minimum Wage Regulations

There are currently 17 sets of Regulations dealing with the National Minimum Wage. The Government intends to simplify the rules by producing a single set of National Minimum Wage Regulations by the end of April 2013.

Changes expected over the summer

There are a number of other changes to employment law which we anticipate will be made over the summer, although at time of writing we do not have the exact dates these changes will become law. Howes Percival will send out further Newsflashes with more details as soon as we have this information.

• No qualifying period for unfair dismissal where the reason for dismissal is, or relates to, the employees political opinion or affiliation (see Howes Percival Newsflash 19 February 2013).

• The Compensatory Award for unfair dismissal to be capped at 12 months pay or £74,200 – whichever is the lower.

• The introduction of fees for bringing a claim in the Employment Tribunal or appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (see Howes Percival Newsflash 18 July 2012).

• Making pre-termination settlement negotiations between an employer and an employee inadmissible in any subsequent unfair dismissal claim (see Howes Percival Newsflash 25 January 2013). A new Statutory Code of Practice about this will also be introduced.

• Changes to whistleblowing legislation. The definition of a qualifying disclosure for the purposes of a whistleblowing claim will be amended so that the disclosure must, in the reasonable belief of the worker making it, be made ‘in the public interest’. In addition the good faith requirement for a protected disclosure will be removed. However, Employment Tribunals will be able to reduce compensation by up to 25% if the disclosure was not made in good faith. In addition employers will be held vicariously liable for their employees if they victimise their co-workers because they have made a protected disclosure (i.e. blowing the whistle), unless the employer can show they took reasonable practicable steps to prevent such action by their employees.

• New Tribunal rules will come into force (see Howes Percival Newsflash 20 March).

Should you require further assistance, please contactNicola Butterworth.

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