Blog
Draft Regulations to amend paternity leave rights have been laid before Parliament. The changes will: Enable fathers/partners to take their leave and pay as two separate blocks of one week Allow leave and pay at any...
Winter can be a challenging time for many - Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), cold, flu, virus and sick bugs can all contribute to an increase in sick days in your organisation. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a real illness and it affects 1 in 3...
2024 brings with it a whole host of new employment laws for employers to be aware of. We're summarising from the newest, to what's coming later in the year so you can start preparing now. Equality Act Amendments – 1 January...
In our final EDI article exploring the intricate tapestry of workplace diversity, we take a look at one crucial thread which weaves through many of the topics we’ve covered — the protection and support of disabled employees. Under the Equality...
A reminder of some key employment rights coming into force in 2024. Carer’s Leave We previously told you about the new rights for carers. The Carer’s Leave Regulations 2024 have been presented to...
In a bid to reduce net migration to the UK, the government has announced new measures set to take effect in spring 2024. These will have a far reaching impact on employers who currently, or intend to, sponsor Skilled Workers. New measures from...
Whilst non-binary isn’t currently recognised in UK law, January 2023 saw the England & Wales census count transgender and non-binary for the first time in its 220-year history. In the 2021 census, 0.06% of respondents (30,000 people) wrote that...
In a recent announcement, the Home Office has unveiled key updates regarding fines for illegal working, which are scheduled to take effect from 22 January 2024. As part of this transition, a comprehensive draft code of practice on preventing...
The government has unveiled a draft statutory instrument that outlines crucial amendments to holiday pay, TUPE, and working time regulations: The Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023.
On 18th September 2023, the Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Bill received Royal Assent, officially becoming the Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023. This legislation introduces significant shifts in how workers' rights are...
On 3 October 2023, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) unveiled its comprehensive guidance, " Employment practices and data protection – Monitoring workers ." This release comes in response to the shifting landscape of remote work...
In the pursuit of fostering diverse and inclusive workplaces, it is essential that we confront and address all forms of discrimination. This month, we focus on race discrimination, reflecting on how it often goes unchecked through unconscious bias and...
A comprehensive report published by the DBT, assesses the effectiveness of shared parental leave (SPL) in achieving its original objectives. The report sheds light on the low take-up rates of SPL and its impact on parents and employers. The data...
The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 has been making its way through the Parliamentary process and has finally Royal Assent. While this Act introduces significant changes to the current flexible working regime, some key last minute changes...
The recent announcement about upcoming air traffic control strikes will be sending travellers and employers into panic mode. The strikes, which have arisen due to a dispute over pay, working hours, and staffing issues at Eurocontrol, could result in the...
The Bullying and Respect at Work Bill was presented to parliament this month. This proposed legislation aims to provide a statutory definition of workplace bullying, enable employees to bring claims related to bullying before employment tribunals, establish...
HMRC has named and shamed over 200 companies for National Minimum Wage breaches, including household names like WH Smith (with the highest underpayment of over £1million), Marks & Spencer and Argos. The number one reason for breach was deductions...
Technology has revolutionised the modern workplace, bringing about transformative advancements like artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and data analytics. While these innovations offer unprecedented efficiency and productivity, they also raise...
The Home Office has made several updates to its right to work checks guidance, some of which provide some important clarity for employers, particularly in relation to employing students. Using IDVT for right to work checks: ...
We published new family related pay rates and the national minimum wage increases in November and December last year. Here’s a reminder of these, plus additional increases announced: Statutory pay increases from 10 April 2023 ...
Last year we reported on the change in how holiday pay should be calculated for part year, permanent workers. In the Harpur Trust v Brazel case, the Supreme Court ruled that holiday entitlement for workers who only work part of the year (such as...
A few months ago we reported on new regulations which now permit employers to engage agency staff to cover striking workers. Three sets of legal proceedings challenging the regulations were brought, one of them involving 11 trade unions. The unions are...
Anyone who has had the misfortune to attend an Employment Tribunal hearing will be familiar with the slightly uncomfortable requirement to refer to the judge as either Sir or Madam.
Last month we reported on a Private Members Bill to increase flexible working rights receiving government support. Since then, government has confirmed the proposals it will definitely be taking forward. What? The amended and...
An apprenticeship provides on the job training, with accompanying study, in a particular trade or profession. Apprenticeships date back to the 12th century, and formed an important part of the development of skills and trade in the UK’s industrial history.
More changes will be coming to exclusivity clauses from 5 December 2022. There's also changes coming in April 2023 to the National Minimum Wage, and we watch two other Bills currently being read in Parliament. Exclusivity clauses...
The Equality Act 2010 originally contained provisions that protected employees from harassment committed by third parties for example, a contractor, or client of the employer. However, these were repealed in October 2013 and, since then, an employer has not...
The Working Times Regulations 1998 (WTR) were introduced as a means of governing the general amount of hours that workers perform over specific time periods, and the ways in which rest periods and general holidays are provided for them, they implement the...
You could be forgiven for ignoring the news at the moment – things are changing so frequently it’s proving challenging to make solid plans for anything. We take a look at what we thought was happening, which Jeremy Hunt told us on 17 October...
Many employers are seeing an increase in employees making data subject access requests (DSARs). Any individual is entitled to request copies of their personal data held by a data controller. In an employment context, often when a relationship is strained, an...
An employee resigning seems like a simple enough concept, but there are some common misconceptions that we’re addressing in this spotlight to help employers avoid getting caught out. Do I need to accept an employee’s resignation?...
It feels as though we’re lurching from one crisis to the next. We’ve battled the COVID pandemic over the last couple of years and just when employers and workers are adjusting to the post pandemic world of work, we’re thrown into financial...
The Supreme Court has (finally) ruled that workers that only work part of the year (such as term-time and casual workers) are entitled to the holiday pay calculated on a similar basis as colleagues working all year.
The pandemic has undoubtedly changed the way life was before anyone had ever heard the words ‘coronavirus’, ‘covid’ and ‘furlough’. One of the biggest shifts we’ve seen is in the world of work – employees want...
In a study conducted by flexible working consultancy business, Timewise, 48% of workers said they would not trust a part-time colleague with an important or ‘business-critical’ task, whilst 49% believed that it was not possible to have a...
When an employee’s misconduct seems severe or shocking, it can often be a knee jerk reaction to suspend them. However, employers should exercise caution, to avoid being on the wrong end of an unfair or constructive dismissal claim. Most disciplinary...
What sort of comments would you consider to constitute bullying & harassment? When we think of these terms, our minds often go to your archetypal playground teasing – which is usually about what someone looks like, sounds like or wears. As...
Garden leave is a tool employers can use to keep an employee who is serving their notice period out of the business. It’s the employer’s choice whether to place an employee on garden leave, and it can apply for some or all of the notice...
Recent, highly publicised, events have brought the practice of ‘fire & rehire’ into the spotlight and led to the government announcing that a new Code of Practice will be introduced. What is fire & rehire? ...
This week the teams have to design a healthy baby food, come up with a brand and packaging, then sell it to retailers. The PMs As the only one with kids (how does he have a 15 year old!?) the girls are keen to put Aaron in place as PM of Diverse. They...
This week the teams are tasked with selecting products to sell live on a TV shopping channel – the team that generates the most money wins.
This week the teams are instructed to put together, sell and host a corporate away day at Silverstone, and if the guests don’t enjoy themselves, they can ask for their money back.
There are lots of good reasons for employers to remind themselves of the rules around maximum limits on working time, required rest breaks and the interplay of these with workers who perform on call work: With hybrid working being...
This week the teams were asked to design driverless vehicle pods, create a brand and try to sell their product to corporate customers.
This week the teams are in Wales hosting tours. With 16 tickets each to sell, they have to avoid upsetting their customers (and each other) and make the most profit to win.
This week the teams are asked, by a slightly disturbing virtual Lord Sugar, to design a video game and pitch it to industry experts.
This week the teams were sent to Greenwich to visit the National Maritime Museum. They’re picturing luxury yachts, but Lord Sugar’s plan is to send them to Cornwall for a spot of fishing.
Chloe's popular The Apprentice is back and this week the teams were tasked with designing a toothbrush for 6-8 year olds, and an app to encourage kids to brush their teeth properly. What could possibly go wrong?
Chloe's The Apprentice blog series is back, as Series 16 of The Apprentice aired this week. A light-hearted look at what employers can learn when it comes to managing people.
Last month we talked about the Great Staffing Crisis, possible causes and how employers could look at their own processes and offering to start to address some of the issues.
This month we take a look at some of the solutions the government has made available, some with cost savings (and even incentives) attached to them.
Government Kickstart scheme and apprentice bonus extension Kickstart is a government-backed scheme that provides funding to create new 6-month fixed-term jobs for 16- to 24-year-olds in receipt of Universal Credit who are at risk of long-term...
Flexible Working will not become the default But you can have your say about other changes Currently, employees with at least 26 weeks’ service can make a request to work flexibly. The employer must consider the request, following a specific...
Extra holiday in 2022 – or is it? With everything that’s been going on you can be forgiven for forgetting, or not even noticing, that we’re getting an extra bank holiday in 2022. It’s the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee so Friday 3...
Some are calling it the “Great Resignation, but “The Great Staffing Crisis” seems apt to me. The UK isn’t short of sectors complaining of desperately challenging recruitment conditions: Hospitality...
We’ve published a few articles about right to work checks but especially in this post Brexit era it remains a hot topic and, understandably, source of confusion for many. We’ve put together a high-level guide to hopefully steer you through...
Taking a look at some legal challenges in the headlines, including mandatory vaccinations, furlough and short term working and ethnicity pay gap reporting.
In a recent study conducted by Autonomy, a future of work think-tank, working from home during COVID-19 has been linked to an epidemic of hidden overtime, having negative effects on workers'...
On 14 September the government posted an updated plan for managing covid throughout the upcoming autumn/winter seasons. In it, it reports that “data continues to show that the link between cases, hospitalisations, and deaths has weakened significantly...
An open letter has been sent to a number of Parliamentary ministers, the CQC and Care England claiming that the requirement of care home workers to be vaccinated is unlawful and unenforceable.
Cases relating to furlough and redundancy are filtering through the Employment Tribunals now, and because of their significance we’re all watching what happens closely, even in first instance, non-binding decisions.
Every time I hear the term ‘Freedom Day’ I think of Bill Pullman’s speech in Independence Day. Google the YouTube clip - a lot of the words are surprisingly apt. But the 19 th July in the real world was, thankfully, less dramatic. A...
The impact of Brexit means any EU national who doesn’t qualify for the settled status scheme which closed for applications on 30 June 2021 won’t be able to work lawfully in the UK without sponsorship.
Following a 6-week consultation which ran from 14 April to 26 May 2021, the government confirmed on 16 June that compulsory COVID-19 vaccinations will be introduced for care home workers.
There has been much media furore over whether the government will force employers to allow employees to work from home – but it looks like a storm in a teacup, at least for now.
Mental health issues are nothing new, but the pandemic and its various knock on effects has seen a surge in people experiencing challenges with their mental health wellbeing. But this remains an area that some employers find tricky to recognise, address and...
**UPDATE 31 AUGUST 2021** - MANUAL RIGHT TO WORK CHECKS NOW DELAYED UNTIL 5 APRIL 2022. The Home Office faced backlash from employers and industry bodies for announcing an end to virtual right to work checks from 17 May. This was despite the rule still...
There’s a growing trend of doing things differently, and it’s extending to employers’ approach to their employment practices. Honest Burgers have a down to earth tone running through their marketing and social media presence – think...
The latest HR Faux pax throughout the latest episode of Line Of Duty.
A few years ago Chloe wrote a very popular blog series reviewing The Apprentice episodes - a light-hearted roundup from a HR and employment law perspective. She's back but this time with the ever popular Line Of Duty series. At best you claim watching the show and reading her series as CPD - at worst it'll be a complete spoiler if you haven't already watched the episode.
With restrictions easing bit by bit over the coming months, there are plenty of employers who will be looking to get their people back to the workplace as soon as they can.
The government’s plan is to modernise our immigration system to help the UK attract and retain the most highly skilled, globally mobile talent – particularly in academia, science, research and technology.
What does it mean for employers if vaccines become mandatory by law? A leaked government paper suggests that care home workers, and potentially frontline healthcare workers, will be legally required to have the COVID jab
Now that the Brexit transition period has ended, many employers have been asking what they should do about right to work checks for EU nationals.
With the COVID vaccination programme underway and the government encouraging those who are symptom free to get tested every 2 weeks, employers are considering how far they can go in requiring employees to get vaccinated and tested.
Those employers who already hold a sponsor licence will have received notification that the online Sponsor Management System was updated with effect from 1 December 2020.
As we approach the end of what has been a truly one of a kind year (we hope!) here’s a reminder of what to look out for in the employment law world in 2021.
Forget what we told you last month about government support: the new Job Support Scheme never happened. The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, known to most as the ‘furlough scheme’, is back
Speaking in the Commons on 5 November, Rishi Sunak announced that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will continue to the end of March 2021.
One of the employment side effects of the COVID pandemic is back logs of annual leave – whether because employees have been on furlough, working so much they couldn’t take holiday, or cancelling it because they couldn’t travel.
With winter fast approaching, government support schemes changing and the ‘R’ rate ever fluctuating, we take a look at the latest position on self-isolation and sick pay.
Employers know that the Equality Act sets out the minimum standards required of employers, to prevent and protect individuals from race discrimination in the workplace. But making a difference takes more than doing the bare minimum.
The government has announced that from 1 November, for 6 months, a new Job Support Scheme will step in to protect jobs in businesses which face lower demand over winter due to COVID-19.
The new immigration system will apply from 1 January 2021, when free movement of EU nationals to the UK will end.
A new scheme has been launched to support young workers called the ‘Kickstart scheme’. It’s aim is to encourage employers to create 6 month placements for young people who are on Universal Credit and at risk of long term unemployment.
Since our last piece about home-working becoming the new norm, we’ve been inundated with questions about employers’ obligations to their employees who are working from home.
Our employment lawyers answer your questions about the changes to the furlough scheme, including how flexible furlough will work.
Deadline to take advantage of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – 10 June Last month The Chancellor Rishi Sunak set out details to extend the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) also known as the...
The Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced key changes to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (also known as the furlough scheme) on Friday 29 May 2020. Summary of key changes From 1 August employers will have to...
Click here for our Insight into Whistleblowing The eagle-eyed among you may have seen the recent reports of the Supreme Court’s judgement against the Royal Mail Group, if so you can’t be blamed if you lost interest in reading further...
Click here for our Insight into Employment Checks and Contracts You’ve spent a lot of time and effort searching for the perfect person to fill that vacant position in your company. It may have cost you agency and selection fees –...
Click here for our Insight into S election and Recruitment A Cardiff framing shop is being investigated after posting this job advert: "Full time/apprenticeship for a local school leaver, preferably a boy, must be able to stay off his phone for...
We often hear from clients at the point a situation with an underperforming employee has become unbearable. Managers are focused on their own day to day job and contributing to the success of the business and there are usually added factors creating a...
With the festive season fast approaching and the social calendar starting to fill up, events fuelled with high spirits (in more than one sense) can be a recipe for disaster where employees are concerned. Inappropriate comments, language and behaviour are...
Forget wolves, walls and the Houses of Westeros, a challenge facing businesses at this time of year is higher levels of germs, sickness and absence. In 2017 the Office for National Statistics reported that the average number of sick days taken by UK workers...
That sounds right, doesn’t it? If an employee agrees to certain terms in their employment contract, like giving notice if they want to leave, then they should stick to that. So what happens when they leave you in the lurch? Realistically, this is a...
Click here for our insight into Constructive Dismissal. Constructive dismissal is a legal concept which is quite commonly misunderstood and employers can put themselves at risk of such claims unknowingly. Changing an aspect of an employee’s role or...
Click here for our Insight into Bullying and Harassment in Employment. Sticks and stones may break my bones... Whether you are ending this sentence in the style of Rhianna, or instead the classic school playground limerick might suggest a lot about your...
Click here for our Insight into Race Discrimination in Employment. It’s pretty obvious to us all that treating an employee or colleague badly because of their race will be unlawful discrimination – to be technical, that’s direct...
Click here for our Insight into Sex Discrimination in Employment. Equality between men and women is an age old battle, but one which has ramped up significantly in recent years when it comes to workplace rights. The #metoo movement prompted a huge...
With the Government moving the goalposts as often as our Summer comes and goes it can be difficult to work out what the current party line is when it comes to EU nationals in the UK come Brexit day. In January 2019 the Government published information which...
