As ever a new year provides an opportunity to look ahead. Here are some of the key legal developments to look out for, and plan for this year.
- Changes to the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage will happen in April. The new hourly rates are:
- National Living Wage – £9.50
- £9.18 for those aged between 21 – 22
- £6.83 for those aged 18 – 20
- £4.81 for those aged 16 – 17 and for apprentices
2. Employers have become accustomed to Digital Right to Work Checks during the pandemic and the government has advised that these will become permanent from April.
3. The delayed Employment Bill could see some key changes this year including (see 3a – 3e for potential developments):
3a. The right to request flexible working from day one. The government’s consultation on this closed in December last year.
3b. A new right for workers with variable hours to request a more stable and predictable contract after 26 weeks’ service and, possibly, new rights to reasonable notice of working hours and compensation for short-notice shift cancellations.
3c. The introduction of tips regulations governing how tips are to be distributed.
3d. A new proactive duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace and to bring back laws making employers responsible if employees are harassed by customers or other third parties.
3e. A new right to 12 weeks’ paid neonatal leave for parents whose babies spend time in neonatal care units. Also promised is improved redundancy protection for pregnant employees and maternity returners by giving them priority for alternative employment opportunities if made redundant, with similar protections for parents returning from adoption or shared parental leave.
4. There will be an additional public holiday on Friday 3 June to mark the Queen’s platinum jubilee, and the late May bank holiday has been moved to Thursday 2 June to make a four-day weekend.
5. There will be uplifts to statutory rates and limits, including statutory sick pay and maternity pay, in April. You can see the full list on the government website HERE.
6. The rules governing gender pay gap reporting are set to be reviewed this year although changes are likely to be subject to consultation. The deadlines for submitting reports are expected to return to normal this year, having been extended in 2021 because of the pandemic and it is possible we will see some movement towards the introduction of ethnicity pay gap reporting.
As ever, change is constant.