Tips must be allocated and paid to staff from 1st October 2024
The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 came into force on 1st October 2024. This new law creates a legal obligation on Employers to allocate all tips, gratuities and service…
Workplace Sexual Harassment â new laws from 26th October 2024
Workplace Sexual Harassment â new laws from 26th October 2024 From 26th October 2024 there is a new law being introduced in Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) â called…
Predictable terms and conditions Regulations are NOT coming in 2024
Originally: A new law called The Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 had been proceeding through the UK Parliament and received Royal Assent on 18th September 2023. It needed…
TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Regulations 2006)
Updated July 2024: The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (referred to below as TUPE) is now the main piece of legislation governing the sale or transfer of…
Menopause and work: guidance for employers in the UK
Menopause and work (updated April 2024) The Equality and Human Rights Commission produced a comprehensive Guide to Menopause in the Workplace, in February 2024, which you can read here. There…
Disability Discrimination â what makes a worker disabled under the Equality Act 2010?
Updated April 2024: When considering if a worker is disabled or not for the purposes of being covered by the Equality Act 2010, Employers must consider the impact of any…
Guide to pay, wages, pay cuts, ‘unauthorised deductions’ and Tips
Pay and Wages explained. How your Pay is protected from 'unauthorised deductions' from your Employer and what to do if your Employer wants to cut your pay or you cannot…
Guide To Statutory Redundancy Pay and Redundancy
Our advice about Redundancy is updated for 2011. Redundancy is a âfairâ means of dismissal by your Employer if the procedures they follow and the circumstances are correct. A Redundancy…
Carers Leave – new from 6th April 2024
Carers Leave â a new statutory right to a weekâs unpaid leave for Carers from 6th April 2024 In England, Wales and Scotland, a new right for Employees will be…
Flexible Working – April 2024 changes
Certain Employees, who have caring responsibilties for children or adults, now have the legal right to request to work flexible hours. Additionally, employees have the right to request time off…
Adoption Leave and Pay – all the details
Information about Adoption Leave and Pay and who is eligible for it. Our advice is updated for 2011 to include details of how your adoption partner/husband/spouse can take over any…
April 2024 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, Parental Bereavement Pay and Statutory Sick Pay (SSP).…
Paternity Leave and Pay – and April 2024 updates
Updated February 2024. Following the birth of a child or an adoption placement, fathers, spouses and partners/civil partners have a right to paternity leave and pay, to care for the…
Extension of Redundancy Protection for employees who are pregnant or returning from family leave from 6th April 2024
Extension of Redundancy Protection (updated April 2024): From 6th April 2024, in England, Wales and Scotland, there are new laws that provide a significant extension to the current rights for…
Guide To Maternity Leave and Pay
Ordinary Maternity Leave lasts for 26 weeks and all Employees are eligible for this regardless of their length of service with their employer. Workers and Freelancers aren't generally entitled to…
Working Time Regulations – Working Hours, Rest Breaks and Holiday Entitlements Guide, January 2024
All the information you need to know about the Working Time Regulations - Rest Breaks, Weekly working hours limits, Daily working hours limits, Opt-Outs, Holiday entitlements - and Bank Holidays.…
Holiday entitlement and sick leave – some clarity? (updated 2024)
Updated January 2024. There has been plenty of confusion surrounding how workers holiday entitlements interact with sickness absence. With several years of conflicting UK and European Court decisions, we are…
Equality Act amended from 1st January 2024, to retain EU rights after Brexit!
When the Equality Act was introduced in 2010 it implemented various pieces of previous EU legislation. After Brexit (from 1.1.21), EU legislation was copied into UK domestic law. The current…
National Minimum Wage increases from April 2024 and 2025
(updated November 2024) National Minimum Wage rises from 1st April 2024 (with 2023 details) – The annual increases in the national living and minimum wage are: For workers aged 23…
Third party harassment provisions in Equality Act repealed….but possibly coming back in 2024!
(Updated October 2024 – see below) The 2010 Equality Act contained the concept of Third Party Harassment, where employers could be held liable for harassment of their workers by 3rd…
Parental Bereavement Leave and new Neonatal Care Leave
The new Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay Act 2018 (also known as Jack’s Law) became law on 6th April 2020. Updated February 2024. What does this mean? It will be…
New right for employees to take Carer’s Leave is coming…. but not yet!
(Updated February 2024) 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 in…
Internships – a good opportunity or a waste of time?
(Updated 2023) Internships and work experience placements can often get bad press, so we look at whether they are a beneficial experience for both Employers and the interns, or unethical…
Mandatory Ethnicity Pay Gap Reporting coming soon? No, it’s ‘voluntary’
(Updated 18th May 2023) 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…
Volunteering – do something meaningful with your spare time
(Volunteering – updated 2023) Anyone can volunteer – Employees, Freelancers and Contractors too. All types of organisations in (and outside of) the UK regularly need volunteers, and you can provide…
Large Scale Dismissals – are they legal?
Updated April 2024. In this article, we look at what happened a year ago, on the 17th of March 2022, when P&O Ferries sacked nearly 800 UK employees, without, so…
Hybrid working â how Employers can make it work!
The practical, managerial, and psychological considerations. When home working/hybrid working became common during the Covid pandemic, some commentators assumed it would only be a temporary change. However, the latest data…
An animal is for life, but can you take them to work?
In this article we look at whether Employers should allow animals into the workplace â the laws you need to know about and the best or most fun practices. There…
Reclaim 92% of Statutory Maternity Pay (and other family pay)
Did you know that all employers can usually reclaim 92% of employeesâ Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), Paternity Pay, Adoption Pay, Parental Bereavement Leave and Shared Parental Pay? And you can…
Statutory sick pay, sickness and fit notes
Up to date information about Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) and your entitlement to it. New information in 2010 on Sick notes and 'Fit' Notes and our advice is updated for…
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.
The Conduct of Employment Agencies Regulations 2003
(updated July 2023) Itâs a long title, but these Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations are important for Limited Company Contractors (or Personal Service Companies) and agency temps. These regulations…
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…
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…
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 âmaking the world of work more inclusive and accessibleâ. Part of this strategy…
Whistle-blowing (the Public Interest Disclosure Act)
Employees and Workers who âblow the whistleâ - 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 Workersâ 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.
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 âtest caseâ…
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 â Have you been dismissed while working abroad?
If you work abroad, you may now be able to claim unfair dismissal in the UK if youâre dismissed. Here we also look at whether Employers can choose which countryâs…
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…
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.…
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…
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…
Taking on an apprentice – the full details
Apprenticeship schemes are often in the news (and not always for the right reasons), so weâve had a look at what they are about and where you can find out…