New announcements from ScreenSkills
New announcements from ScreenSkills – they have recently announced two major initiatives to help employers in the UK film, TV, animation and FX Industries. They are piloting a Jobs board…
Right to Work in the UK checks – updated March 2022
(Updated 4th March 2022) The Government announced on 30th March 2020 that there would be changes to Right to Work in the UK checks, during the Coronavirus pandemic. You can…
How to check a person’s legal right to work in the UK (updated January 2022)
(updated February 2022) All employers have a legal obligation to check that all their staff have a legal right to work in the UK before they can employ them, as…
April 2022 rate increases for statutory maternity pay and statutory sick pay
Rate increases – The Government have announced the following rate increases for Statutory Maternity Pay, Paternity Pay, Adoption Pay, Shared Parental Pay and Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). From 11th April…
Maternity Leave and Pay Chart
As part of our guide to Maternity here is a quick chart to help you work out your Maternity Leave and Pay entitlements - updated for 2011.
New right for employees to take Carer’s Leave is coming…. but not yet!
(Updated 12th May 2022) The UK Government consulted, between March and August 2020, on the concept of introducing unpaid Carer’s Leave for employees. The consultation closed and the Government responded…
More Gig economy ‘worker’ decisions – Excel, Addison Lee and Stuart Delivery
(Updated 29th October 2021) Following on from the recent decisions about Uber and CitySprint, now a bicycle courier working for Excel has been declared a ‘worker’ for employment rights and…
National Minimum Wage increases from April 2022
National Minimum Wage rises from 1st April 2022 – The Chancellor announced in the Budget yesterday the annual increases in the national living and minimum wage. This followed the recommendations…
Disability at work – New online advice hub from Acas
In late summer the government launched the National Disability Strategy, which will hopefully have the effect of “making the world of work more inclusive and accessible”. Part of this strategy…
Whistle-blowing (the Public Interest Disclosure Act)
Employees and Workers who ‘blow the whistle’ - i.e.make a 'protected disclosure' of any wrong-doing in the workplace by their Employer - are now protected by law in certain circumstances.…
The new EU Whistleblower Directive
The European Union adopted the new ‘Whistleblower Directive’ in October 2019. EU member states will have 2 years to implement the new Directive, and must implement it at the latest…
Sleeping on the job: Final clarity about pay in March 2021
Updated May 2021. We examine the latest position on whether you should be paid for sleeping while at work, and look at the most important, and recent, tribunal cases here…
Workers entitled to same Health & Safety protection as employees (COVID-19)
Gig economy workers gain the same Health and Safety protection as employees. (Updated 25th May 2021) In November 2020, The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain bought a case representing…
The National Minimum Wage – record keeping period now 6 years
Detailed information about the Minimum Wage; information on TV/Film Industry Pay Guidelines; information about Agency Workers and guidelines for Unpaid Work Experience in the TV/Film Industry.
Mandatory Ethnicity Pay Gap Reporting coming soon? No!
(Updated 25th May 2021) Mandatory Ethnicity Pay Gap Reporting Consultation starts In October 2018 the Government started a consultation asking Employers to contribute their views on potential mandatory ethnic minority…
Uber drivers – Supreme Court rules they are workers
More details from the Uber drivers case ……Updated March 2021, after the Supreme Court’s decision. At the end of October 2016, an employment tribunal ruled that two Uber ‘test case’…
Women of State Pension Age may be eligible for more pension
According to a report in the Guardian on the 6th February 2021, thousands of woman over State Pension Age may collectively be owed more than £100m after being underpaid for…
Employment law implications after Brexit, from 1st January 2021
As part of the Withdrawal Agreement, agreed with the EU in January 2020, EU employment law continues to apply to the UK until the end of the transition period on…
Global Employees – Have you been dismissed while working abroad?
If you work abroad, you may now be able to claim unfair dismissal in the UK if you’re dismissed. Here we also look at whether Employers can choose which country’s…
Immigration – how to recruit people from outside the UK from 1.1.21
From 1 January 2021, the freedom of people to move between the UK and EU countries will end and the UK will introduce a new immigration system that will treat…
Workplace Diversity – #10000BlackInterns Scheme
The #10000BlackInterns initiative is designed to help transform the horizons and prospects of young Black people in the United Kingdom. The NHS, the law firm Linklaters and the accountancy firm…
Veterans given right to an interview for civil service jobs
People Management reported, on 6th October, that veterans who have served in the armed forces for a least one year will now automatically get an interview when applying for jobs…
How to deal with an Acas conciliation request
(Updated October 2020). If an employee or ex-employee has a potential Employment Tribunal claim, from May 2014 they are required to contact Acas first, who will then contact their employer.…
Menopause and work: guidance for employers in the UK
Menopause and work. Global HR Lawyers lus Laboris have produced this excellent guide for Employers about the menopause and work. It starts: Women over the age of 50 are the…
Gender non-binary workers covered by the Equality Act
Gender non-binary and gender fluid people are covered by the ‘protected characteristic’ of gender reassignment under the Equality Act 2010. The Equality Act came into force in October 2010 and…
Government ‘Kickstart’ Scheme now open
(Updated February 2020) The government has opened the Kickstart Scheme, which makes funding available for employers in England, Scotland and Wales to help provide jobs for 16-24 year olds. Key…
If your staff travel from home straight to a customer – working time rules have changed
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) decided in September 2015 that travel time counts as working time. This applies when a worker does not have a fixed place of work…
All you need to know about Lone Workers
We take a look what defines a lone worker, what businesses should do when employing lone workers, and your legal rights if you are a one. The term lone worker…
Help for working disabled people during the pandemic
In August 2020, the Government announced that Disabled people can now benefit from financial support to work from home, or extra help to stay in the work-place, thanks to an…
Taking on an apprentice – the full details
Apprenticeship schemes are often in the news (and not always for the right reasons), so we’ve had a look at what they are about and where you can find out…
Are Foster Parents ‘workers’?
In 2018, the Advocate General of the ECJ said that foster parents were not workers and therefore do not have rights under the Working Time Directive (to rest breaks and…
Guidelines for TV Companies to restart programme making
TV companies agree guidelines that should allow programme making to resume (updated 8th June 2020) TV companies have agreed guidelines for producers to follow to allow television programmes to start…
Annual Leave Carry Over changes – due to Covid 19
The Government announced, on 27th March 2020, that workers who have not taken all of their statutory annual leave entitlement in 2020, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, will now be…
Financial Support for workers in the Film & TV Industry
The Film and TV Charity offer financial support and are concerned about the potential impact of coronavirus on people working in film, TV and cinema, particularly in relation to freelance…
Dealing with Coronavirus at work – information for Employers
Acas has published advice for Employers on how to deal with the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. The advice is worth reading as it includes: how to handle staff who have…
Sexual Harassment and other Harassment at work – new guidance
The Equality and Human Rights Commission produced new guidance for Employers, in January 2020, on Sexual Harassment and Harassment at Work. You can read the full Guidance here. The introduction…
Are you Micro-Managing or Managing your staff? Spot the difference…
Here’s a nice article about the way you manage your staff – which asks if you are micro-managing your staff? It starts “As a Business Strategy it is important to…
Calculating Holiday Entitlement for permanent workers with irregular hours
Calculating Holiday entitlement for permanent workers with irregular hours Calculating holiday pay for full-time and part-time workers is pretty straight forward – multiply the number of days they work each…
Calculating Holiday Pay – changes in April 2020 for workers with variable hours
Calculating Holiday Pay – Currently the ‘reference’ period in the Working Time Regulations (1998) that is used to calculate holiday pay is 12 weeks. So, where a worker does not…
Increases to the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage – April 2020
Increases to the The National Living and National Minimum Wage The minimum wage is a legal right that covers almost all workers above compulsory school leaving age. There are different…
The Compulsory Living Wage and Voluntary Living Wage – 2019/2020 changes
In 2016 the Government introduced a compulsory National Living Wage, however there is another voluntary Real Living Wage – we thought we’d look at what this means for SMEs. Updated…
Parental Bereavement Leave – coming April 6th 2020
The new Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay Act 2018 (also known as Jack’s Law) will become law on 6th April 2020 (the Regulations have now been published but still need…
Changes to Statement of Employment Terms – from April 2020
Significant changes are being made from 6th April 2020 and all Employers will need to follow these new laws about the Statement employees should receive when they start work (which…
May Day Bank Holiday 2020 changes to Friday 8th May
Change in 2020 May Day bank holiday date In order to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day in 2020, the government has decided to move the early May bank…
Labour to scrap IR35 private sector reform! Or maybe not!
We’ve just read this, from Contractor UK, but can find no other confirmation yet – if it’s true that will be a relief to many Contractors/Businesses in the Private Sector,…
Get the Knowledge – essentials you need when working with children on TV set or studio
Presented by the UK’s leading expert on working with children, Alison Cresswell, GET THE KNOWLEDGE provides the essential knowledge you need when working with children on set or in studio.…
Agency Worker Regulations (AWR) – what does it mean?
From 1st October 2011, Agency Workers in Great Britain (Northern Ireland will publish their own separate regulations) will have the right to ‘equal treatment’ in certain areas of their employment.…
The Stalking Protection Act 2019
The Stalking Protection Act 2019, which came into force in March 2019, is designed to tackle ‘stranger stalking’ (statistics says that the majority of stalking offences – whether the abuse…
Changes to Written Statements of Employment from April 2020
Currently, all employees, who are engaged for one month or more, are legally entitled to a Written Statement, which they must receive within two months of starting the job. However,…
New – Council Tax Attachment of Earnings Orders (CTAEO)
New – Council Tax Attachment of Earnings Orders (CTAEO) From 8th July 2019, the HMRC are leading a trial with 29 different Council areas in England and Wales to recover…