KR HR & TRAINING NEWS ARTICLES

The first few months of 2024 have seen a wave of changes in UK employment law which impact all employers, with further changes to follow later in the year.  It can be difficult to keep track of planned changes and actions to be taken, so we have rounded up 2024 new legislation with a timeline of key changes and suggested actions to help you plan ahead.

1 January 2024: Working time and holiday

There has been clarification and minor changes regarding holiday carry over, including:

• Special legislation regarding employees who had been entitled to carry over holiday that had not been taken due to Covid-19 for two years has been withdrawn (any such accrued leave must be taken by 31 March 2024)
• If an employee has not been able to take their statutory holiday due to being on family related leave, this must be carried over and used within the next holiday year.
• If any employee has not been able to take their statutory holiday due to being on long-term sick leave, up to 20 days of statutory holiday can be carried over and must be used within 18 months.

Action:  Review holiday entitlement to be carried over for those on sick leave/family related leave.  Additionally, update managers and employees.

February 2024: Right to Work Checks

There has been a hefty increase in the fines for employing illegal workers:

• First offence: fine to increase from £15,000 to £45,000 per worker
• Repeat offences: fine to increase from £20,000 to £60,000 per worker

Action:  Ensure you have robust procedures in place for checking right to work in the UK during your recruitment process and that you retain evidence of the check on file for all workers.

1 April 2024 – Increase to the National Minimum/Living Wage

April saw a significant increase in rates of pay and, most notably, a lowering of the age band for paying the National Living Wage rate.  The National Living Wage now applies to those aged 21 and over. Minimum Wage rates apply for those under 21 and apprentices.  

The New National Living Wage / Minimum Wage rates for

21 yrs and over is £11.44
18-20 = currently £7.49 increased to £8.60
16/17 =  currently £5.28 increased to £6.40
Apprentices under 19/over 19 (during the first year) = £6.40

Action:  Review salary rates for staff to ensure compliance and fair pay for employees.

1 April 2024 – Part year and irregular hours workers’ holiday for annual leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024.

There has been a positive change in the law regarding holiday calculation for part year and irregular hours workers holiday which aims to simplify holiday pay calculations.  Rolled up holiday pay becomes lawful in April of this year. This means you no longer need to undertake a complicated sum looking back over up to 104 weeks to take an average of the last 52 weeks of work! (Unless you want to – rolled up holiday pay is not mandatory).

From 1 April 2024 (depending on when your holiday year starts), businesses are able to choose to pay workers an additional sum in respect of holiday pay at each payment date, regardless of whether workers take their holiday in that period.  Holiday entitlement for irregular hours and part-year workers will be calculated in hours, not weeks.  It will accrue at the rate of 12.07% of the hours worked in a pay period, this figures being based on the statutory minimum holiday entitlement (5.6 weeks).  This means that employers would be able to include an additional amount within every pay slip to cover a worker’s holiday pay, instead of paying for holiday when a worker actually takes leave.

It is important for employers to note that implementing this method may disincentivise workers from taking holiday, and so it is important that employers still encourage workers to take their entitled annual leave when they can – this is a legal requirement to ensure everyone has proper breaks away from work.  An alternative to paying the 12.07% with every pay slip is to accrue it in a “holiday pot” to be paid whenever the worker takes time off.

For businesses whose holiday year renews in April 2024, then it is possible to change the way zero-hours workers are paid immediately, otherwise it’s implemented from the start of the next holiday year after 1 April 2024

Note that rolled up holiday pay can only be paid for workers with irregular hours, not all employees.

Action:  Employers should identify those that will fall under the new calculation method for statutory holiday and liaise with their payroll provider. Employers should consult with employees about changing how holiday pay is calculated before updating contracts. Employers should also ensure that they have systems and documents in place that communicate to their employees their right to take holiday, encourage employees to take holiday and explain holiday will be lost if not taken.

6 April:  Carer’s leave

This creates a new statutory entitlement to have up to one week unpaid leave per year for employees caring for a dependent with a long-term care need.  This will be a day one right and the leave will be available to take as a block or individual days.  It aims to help carers better balance caring and work responsibilities and support them to remain in employment.  Whilst some employers already do make some adaptions (and more) to support their team members, this will provide a minimum standard for all. 

Action:  Update staff handbooks with a new carer’s leave policy. Train managers on managing requests for carer’s leave. 

6 April:  Flexible working

A significant change is the expansion of flexible working rights.  Flexible working arrangements include remote working as well as altered working hours.  The main changes include:

• Employees can make a request twice every 12 months (rather than once)
• Employers must respond within two months (rather than three)
• Requesting flexible working is a day one right (no longer requiring 26 weeks service)
• Employees no longer need to explain how the impact on the business could be mitigated
• Employers must consult and meet with the employee if they are considering refusing a request.

Action:  Update handbook/policy and train managers on this updated legislation. 

6 April:  Redundancy and family friendly rights.

Prior to 6 April 2024, if a company were looking to make redundancies, employers must offer suitable alternative vacancies to those on maternity leave, adoption/shared parental leave. From 6 April 2024, extra protection against redundancy now covers the period up to 18 months after birth and will also cover the pregnancy period.

For those employees currently on family related leave this applies to all individual whose leave ends on or after April 2024. This applies when an employee tells their employer on or after 6 April 2024 that they are pregnant. 

Action:  Relevant company policies should be updated to reflect these changes.

April 2024:  Paternity leave

Changes to paternity leave will give greater flexibility to new parents.  Prior to April 2024, paternity leave had to be taken within 56 days of the birth and could only be taken in blocks of one or two consecutive week (meaning if the father opts to take a block of one week, they lose the second week).  From 6th April 2024 new parents are entitled to take paternity leave up to the end of the first year after birth or adoption.  The leave may now be taken in two separate weeks rather than one consecutive block.  

6 April:  Statutory rates 

There have been proposed increases to statutory rates as follows:

Sick pay (SSP) increase to £116.75

Lower earnings limit £123

Share parent pay (ShPP) = £184.03
Maternity Pay = £184.03
Adoption pay = £184.03
Paternity pay = £184.03
Parental bereavement pay = £184.03

July:  TUPE changes

For TUPE transfers taking place on or after 1 July 2024, small businesses with FEWER than 50 employees and businesses of ANY SIZE that are proposing to transfer fewer than 10 employees will be able to consult directly with transferring employees if there are no existing employee representatives.  This may simplify the consultation process for some businesses.

1 July:  Tipping

Withholding tips from staff becomes unlawful as new laws on tipping and service charges come into effect on 1 July 2024.  Qualifying tips must be paid to staff in full by the end of the month following the month in which the tip was received (without making any deductions).   Tips must be allocated ‘fairly’ and a new tribunal claim will be created for failing to allocate fairly or not passing on all of the tip.

Action:  A written policy which sets out how qualifying tips are dealt with and a record of the allocation of qualifying tips which must be kept for three years from the date the tip is received by the worker.

Legislation on the horizon

In the latter part of this year (October and beyond) further new legislation is to be introduced but, as yet, details have not yet been released by parliament.  We will issue further updates as soon as more specific details are known.  Below is a brief overview of the anticipated legislation. 

October (at the earliest):  Neonatal care leave (New) 

Up to 12 weeks leave to be added to maternity/paternity leave from day one in the following circumstances:

• Baby must be hospitalised before 28 days old and for at least 1 week
• Paid at statutory rate if eligible.

Action:  Update handbook and contract of employment

Late October:  Harassment

• New proactive duty to prevent sexual harassment
• Worker referrals directly to EHRC
• Tribunal will be able to uplift compensation where employer has breached the duty.
• Business will be responsible for ensuring employees understand all sexual harassment training, with a 25% compensation uplift where there has been a breach of the employers duty.

Action:  Implement robust processes and regular training for all employees

Autumn (possibly):

The workers (predictable terms and conditions) Act is expected to come into force in 2024 and will give zero-hour/casual and agency workers a new statutory right to request a more predictable working pattern.  Details released to date are:-

• This applies to workers with a lack of predictability in working hours, including fixed term
• Employees will be able to request for a more stable working pattern
• There could be a length of service requirement (possibly 26 weeks)
• Refusal by the employer may be possible

Auto-enrolment of pensions (no date yet released for this change but it is likely to apply in 2024)

• Minimum age for auto enrolment to be reduced to 18
• Lower earnings limit will be removed/reduced

Fire and Rehire:

New statutory code of practice to cover dismissal to effect changes in terms and conditions (fire and hire).

Non-compete clauses 2024/2025

Confirmation is yet to be release as to whether the Government intends to proceed with its May 2023 announced intention to introduce new legislation to limit the duration of non-compete provisions to three months.

How will these changes impact your business?

With such a diverse range of new developments filtering through over the next 12 months, there is undoubtedly a lot for businesses to consider and action.  We will be following the progress of these yet-to-be-confirmed changes closely and will update you once further details are released.

If you need help updating your handbooks and contracts then please do get in touch with us. Why not book an HR Health Check to get your documents up to date? For details, see our HR Solutions page.