The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt announced his spring budget on 15th March 2023. Below is a summary of relevant provisions and changes that will affect employers/ employees and businesses in general.
23 and over | 21 to 22 | 18 to 20 | Under 18 | Apprentice | |
April 2022 (current rate) | £9.50 | £9.18 | £6.83 | £4.81 | £4.81 |
April 2023 | £10.42 | £10.18 | £7.49 | £5.28 | £5.28 |
Day 1 right, a new requirement for employers to consult with employees when they intend to reject the request, allow two statutory requests a year, provide a decision period of two months and remove the existing requirement for an employee to explain what effect, if any, the change applied would have on the employer and how that effect might be dealt with. The Bill passed its second reading on 28th October 2022 and given the government’s latest position it is anticipated should become law in 2023. However, this is questionable given the delays already experienced and that many key aspects of the bill have now been tabled separately as other bills.
The Carer’s Leave Bill proposed the introduction of a day one right for up to five working days of unpaid leave for employees with long-term caring responsibilities of a dependant, either arranging or providing care. Dependants include partners, children, parents, people living in the same house as the employee and people who reasonably rely on the employee. The employee will be required to give notice twice the length of the leave and can take the time as partial or full days and can be taken flexibly at different times to suit their caring responsibilities. Proof is not needed to show how the leave has been used. Employers should be aware that if the Bill becomes law employees will be protected from dismissal or detriment due to taking this leave. If an employer dismisses an employee because of this leave, it will be an automatic unfair dismissal. This bill has passed all stages within the House of Commons and is at committee stage in the House of Lords, with a sitting scheduled for 19th April 2023.
As the law currently stands, in a redundancy process an employer has an obligation to offer those on maternity leave, adoption leave or shared parental leave suitable alternative employment (if it exists) as a priority over other employees provisionally selected for redundancy. Failure to do so is automatically unfair. The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill proposes to increase this protection to extend to the point from which the employee tells their employer they are pregnant/ will be taking adoption or shared parental leave and also after they have returned to work, potentially for a period of up to 18
months after the child’s birth/ adoption. This bill is currently at the committee stage in the House of Lords, with a sitting scheduled for 17th April 2023. There are a number of Parliamentary stages this Bill must pass before it becomes law.
Proposes to make it unlawful for employers not to provide employees with 100% of the tips left by customers. It is proposed that tips will be distributed in a fair and transparent manner, so that employees are paid what they have earned. It is likely that this will be accompanied by a Code of Practice, which will offer more guidance on which workers benefit from the tips in different situations. Enforcement of these obligations has not yet been clarified. It is proposed that employers will have to record tips and show how they have been allocated. Records will need to be kept for a minimum period and workers will have a right to request to see these records. The bill is set to undergo the third reading stage in the House of Lords on 21st April 2023.
By the end of 2023, the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill aims to abolish all EU law that is not specifically reinstated or replaced. This may affect a number of EU-derived secondary legislation, including the Working Time Regulations, Agency Worker Regulations and TUPE. There are concerns around whether the end of 2023 will provide enough time to reform these laws, although there is a potential extension to June 2026 but no later.
Will extend employers’ duties to protect against sexual harassment and reintroduce protection (and businesses’ responsibility and therefore legal liability) for third-party harassment. Unclear when this will happen.
If you would like more information on these updates and how they will affect your workplace, please contact [email protected]
Generation Z employees were born between 1995 and 2012. Typically, they prefer to connect through social media, text messaging, emailing and any other apps they can find on their smartphones but panic sets in when it’s time to answer a telephone call! It’s important that we recognise the differences between the generations within our workforces to ensure we are getting the most out of each individual.
Here are some of the things that Gen Zs might be looking for in the workplace:
If you would like more information on managing Gen Zs, please contact [email protected]
Running a performance management meeting can be challenging, but with the right approach, it can be a valuable tool for improving employee performance and avoiding the disciplinary process. Here are some tips to help you run an effective performance management meeting:
Whilst this process can be daunting, Agile HR Consulting are experienced and enthusiastic about guiding your business on this journey!
For further information on the above, please contact [email protected]