As most employment lawyers will testify, April and October are extremely busy months when it comes to Employment Law Reform. Hopefully you will find the timeline below of use for this year, although in practice this area of law can change literally by the week.
February 2012
We have already had the annual review for various statutory caps, which as usual came into force on 1st February.
The weekly cap for the purposes of redundancy pay has been increased to £430 (from £400) per week. This means that the maximum statutory redundancy entitlement has now increased to £12,900.
The statutory cap for the compensatory award in unfair dismissal claims has also been increased to £72,300 (from £68,400).
March 2012
The new Parental Leave Directive, which increased the right to parental leave to 18 weeks, was due to take effect on March 8th. However, the Government have requested that this be postponed, so this is now likely to take effect in 2013.
April 2012
1) The draft regulations changing the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims from 1 to 2 years have been published. These will come into force on 6th April. In a nutshell, any employee whose employment commences on or after 6th April 2012 will have to accrue 2 years continuous service before they are eligible to bring a claim for unfair dismissal. Any employee who was employed prior to that date will still only require 1 year’s service.
These regulations will have no effect on discrimination claims, which do not require any period of continuous service.
From a practical perspective if you operate a small business and you are considering recruitment of staff, it may make sense to defer the start date until 6th April if your business can cope in the mean time.
2) Statutory Maternity Pay will increase to £135.45 per week. Statutory Sick Pay will increase to £85.85 per week.
3) Various amendments to Employment Tribunal Procedure will be introduced. These will include an increased number of cases being heard by a Single Judge, maximum costs awards against a losing party increasing to £20,000 (this is currently £10,000) and deposits being increased from £500 to £1000.
October 2012
1) The new workplace pension provisions will be introduced for larger employers. Auto enrolment will be phased in dependant on the size of the employer. The rules are quite involved and there is ultimately no substitute for taking advice upon your own position. However, hopefully the attached link will provide some useful background information.
2) The current rates for minimum wage may be re-visited, although this is likely to be dependent on the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission, whose report is likely to be published in April.
Other possible developments
- Consultation on a rapid resolution scheme for simple/low value claims.
- Regulation to simplify the requirements for compromise agreements.
- Mandatory conciliation via ACAS on all Tribunal claims.
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