Employment Key Changes 2023: What is coming?

The year ahead see's changes to rates of pay, major reforms to EU law and details on the much-awaited Employment Bill.

1. Increased Rate Changes

The new year welcomed various rate changes. Here is what you can expect:

• National Minimum Wage / National Living Wage rates are set to increase from 1st April 2023.

• Statutory maternity, adoption, paternity, shared parental pay. The rate of £156.66 per week will increase to £172.48 per week on 2nd April 2023.
• Statutory sick pay. The rate of £99.35 is set to increase to £109.40 per week. This increase is expected to occur on 6 April 2023.

2. Retained EU law (Revocation and Reform) Bill

The Retained EU Law Bill will repeal all EU law unless new legislation keeps it in place. The introduction of the Bill could see changes to:

- Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations
- The Working Time Regulations
- The Agency Workers Regulations
- Fixed-term Employees Regulations
- Part-Time Workers Regulations
- The Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations
- Various health and safety regulations
- Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations

3. Employment Bill

The much-awaited Employment Bill, mentioned in 2019, is likely to come in to force in 2023. The Employment Bill is said to include some of the following:

- Changes to the existing right to request flexible working. Employees no longer need 26 weeks of service to request flexible working; they can do so right away.
- Proposals to provide job security for new and expectant mothers for up to 6 months after their maternity leave ends.
- Introducing the right to receive up to 12 weeks’ paid neonatal leave for parents of babies needing neonatal care.
- Providing employees who are carers the day one right to receive one week’s unpaid leave per year.
- Allowing workers on variable hours the right to request a more predictable and stable work contract after 26 weeks’ qualifying service.
- Proposals making it unlawful for employers to withhold tips, gratuities and service charges from workers.
- Imposing a new duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment at work (extending to third parties). There are also proposals to extend the time limit for claims to 6 months.

Also in 2023, the Harbours (Seafarers’ Remuneration) Bill will come into effect, giving UK ports authority to deny access to ships that pay their crew members below the national minimum wage.

The Transport Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill will likely take effect in 2023. It requires employers and unions to agree on a minimum service level during transport strikes for three months. It will also remove the automatic unfair dismissal protection available to employees who participate in strike action during that period.

Posted in Employment Law, Family Leave, Parental Leave, Sick Leave/Absence Management, Wages

Proposed Family Leave Changes for 2022

The upcoming new year brings with it many changes/ updates to legislation. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has published its proposed Pension and Benefit Rates for the year 2022/2023. The rates show increases to statutory benefits such as sick pay, maternity pay, paternity pay, shared parental pay and adoption pay which will be confirmed by secondary legislation.

From the 11th of April 2022, the following rates are expected to apply:

• The weekly rate of statutory sick pay (SSP) will increase to £99.35 
• The weekly rate of statutory maternity pay (SMP) and maternity allowance will increase to £156.66 
• The weekly rate of statutory paternity pay (SPP) will increase to £156.66 
• The weekly rate of statutory shared parental pay (ShPP) will increase to £156.66 
• The weekly rate of statutory adoption pay (SAP) will increase to £156.66 

Related Articles:

• The Budget 2021: NLW & NMW
• Let's Talk About Family Leave

Posted in Employment Law, Family Leave

Let's Talk About Family Leave

With the covid-19 lockdowns having made the adoption process more difficult and limiting the capability of social services to identify vulnerable cases, this has resulted in the number of adoptions in England alone having fallen by one-third over the past few years. This blog post rounds up the key employment law rights and entitlements that apply to adoptive parents:

Adoption, Paternity & Shared Parental Leave

When adopting, the couple must designate one parent as the (primary) adopter for the purposes of leave and pay entitlements. The adopter has an entitlement of to up to 52 weeks' statutory adoption leave which like maternity leave is a day-one right meaning there is no longer any qualifying period of service to avail of this leave. The other adopter is entitled to take statutory paternity leave and both adopters may be eligible to opt in to the shared parental leave scheme if they meet the qualifying conditions. The (primary) adopter must inform their employer of their intention to avail of their adoption leave in order to opt in to the shared parental leave scheme. If someone is adopting without a second parent, they are entitled to statutory adoption leave. During adoption leave, an employee is entitled to all terms and conditions of employment except terms that are related to pay.

Adoption leave can begin on the date a child is placed with the adopter or within 14 days before the date on which the child is expected to be placed. In the case of adopting more than one child as part of the same adoption arrangement, the employee cannot claim multiple adoption pay entitlements. 

Adoption leave and pay is available only to parents who adopt through an adoption agency. Employees who adopt a child on a "private" basis are not eligible for adoption leave or pay, or are step-parents who adopt their step-children.

Surrogacy

Adoption leave and pay rights have also been extended to parents who enter into qualifying surrogacy arrangements. To qualify, parents must be eligible for a parental order in respect of the child. Parental order means that, along with meeting other conditions, one of the parents must have provided the genetic material that was used to create the embryo.

Dependants & Parental Leave

Dependant leave is available for an employee who needs to take time off work in an emergency or unexpected situation, in order to help a dependant, which, includes an adoptive child. An adoptive parent who has served at their company for over one year may also take parental leave to look after their child up to their 18th birthday. This entitlement is to a maximum of 18 weeks unpaid leave per child. The employee may take up to four weeks per year and it must be in blocks of one week at a time.

Related Articles:

- The Buzz About Carer's Leave

- Care Home Workers & Mandatory Vaccinations: The New Regulations

Posted in Family Leave