Now that we’re into the New Year, it’s time for you to make sure that you’re fully prepared for six key Employment Law changes that could impact your business.

Here’s what you need to know:

Right to a Written Statement of Terms

Currently, employees who have been continuously employed for more than one month must be provided with a written statement of terms within two months of employment commencing.

From 6 April, all new employees and workers will have the right to a statement of written particulars from their first day of employment. Additional information will have to be included as part of the extended right.

Given the new obligation is to provide particulars on ‘day one’, employers should begin preparation of the revised statement of particulars during the recruitment stage and ensure that these include every element of the new requirement. Employers will need to consider who might qualify as a worker, issuing contracts of employment only to employees and using a separate template when issuing particulars for workers.

IR35 Changes to Private Sector

New changes are coming to medium and large companies in the private sector related to employing off-payroll workers (including contractors or personal service companies). Public sector companies have been providing reporting on off-payroll workers since early 2017, and now HMRC is extending the rules to the private sector to equalise taxes for employees vs. contractors doing the same work but paying different taxes.

Parental Bereavement Leave

A new bill, which became the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act on 13 September 2018, will entitle employees who lose a child under the age of 18, or suffer a stillbirth from the 24th week of pregnancy, to two weeks’ unpaid leave, as a right from day one of their employment.

The leave will be paid at the statutory rate if the employee has 26 weeks’ service.

Employed parents are already entitled to take a reasonable amount of unpaid time off to deal with an emergency involving a dependant, including dealing with a dependant’s death, as a day one right.

Taxation on Termination Payments

HMRC will begin taxing termination payments over £30,000 as of 6 April 2020. The new regulation was originally scheduled for April 2018, but was delayed for 2 years. Now employers will be required to tax termination payments for employees if the amount exceeds £30,000.

Agency Workers Regulations

The Agency Worker Regulations 2010 (AWR 2010) entitles agency workers to receive the same pay and basic working conditions as direct recruits once they have completed 12 weeks’ continuous service working in the same role.

The ‘Swedish derogation’ currently provides an exemption to the right to equal pay, if agency workers are employed under a permanent contract of employment with the temporary work agency and are paid by the agency for periods between assignments.

From 6 April 2020, the Swedish derogation is removed. Once agency workers have satisfied the 12-week qualifying period, they will be entitled to equal pay to workers who are engaged directly by the employer.

On or prior to 30 April 2020, agency workers whose existing contracts contain a Swedish derogation provision must be provided with a written notification by the agency that it will no longer have effect.

In addition, from 6 April 2020 all agency work-seekers must be provided with a key facts statement setting out the terms under which they will undertake the work.

Average Week’s Pay

Changes to calculations for an “average week’s pay” will begin 6 April 2020. This new calculation will move from using 12 weeks of pay to calculate the average to 52 weeks of pay. This will help seasonal workers who are often negatively impacted by the current calculation method and will make employers pay their seasonal employees more fairly when it comes to calculating an “average week’s pay” when determining bonus or holiday payments.

Now is a good time to carry out an audit of your policies and procedures, to make sure that you’re fulfilling your legal responsibilities.

With that in mind, pick up the phone and get in touch. We can arrange to have a discussion around the changes that you may need to implement in coming weeks, so you can move forward with the peace of mind that comes with knowing that everything is under control.