After quite some time with no major changes to employment law legislation, five have come along at once!
New Right to be Given a Written Statement of Terms
At the moment, all employees must be provided with a statement of terms, i.e. the written particulars of their employment, within eight weeks of starting work.
From 6 April 2020, workers – as well as employees – must receive these details from the first day they start work.
The information that must be provided is also changing, to include details of working patterns, training requirements, how long a job is expected to last and all benefits provided with the job, amongst other things.
Changes to Agency Worker Rules
The law currently states that agency workers should be entitled to the same pay and basic working conditions as employees after they have been working for the same company for 12 weeks, unless certain exemptions apply.
These exceptions will be revoked form 6 April 2020, and agency workers must be provided with an updated contract confirming this by no later than 30 April 2020.
They must also be provided with a Key Information Document, providing information on the types of contract, the minimum expected rate of pay, how they will be paid and by whom.
Changes to IR35 Rules for the Private Sector
The IR35 rules are aimed at reducing tax avoidance for individuals working on a self-employed basis through personal service companies – who should otherwise be classed as employees known as ‘off payroll workers’. The costs in terms of lost tax revenue is estimated to reach 1.3 billion by 2023/24.
The new rules place the onus on medium and large-sized private sector businesses to asses the employment status of off payroll workers engaged by them. If they are deemed to be workers or employees by HMRC then the business, rather than the off payroll worker, will be deemed responsible for repayment.
Holiday Pay Reference Period
At present, an employee who works irregular hours has the amount of holiday pay calculated by averaging the hours worked over the previous 12 weeks, known as the pay reference period.
From 6 April 2020, the pay reference period for determining holiday pay will be changed from 12 weeks to 52 weeks, or the number of complete weeks the individual has been working if less than 52 weeks.
Employers will be required to disregard any weeks not worked, or where no pay was received, in order to calculate the individual’s average weekly pay.
This is intended to offer more protection to seasonal workers, or those whose pay fluctuates, to ensure that they are not at a financial disadvantage for taking holiday.
New Parental Bereavement Law
This is a new law entitling bereaved parents who lose a child under the age of 18, or who suffer a stillbirth from the 24th week of pregnancy, to two weeks’ leave regardless of the length of their employment.
Employees who have 26 weeks’ continuous service will also be entitled to receive statutory bereavement pay, but those with less than 26 weeks’ service will be entitled to two weeks’ unpaid leave.
At present, it is anticipated that this new law will be introduced in April 2020, but a date has not been fixed yet.
Next Steps
These changes mean that it is more important than ever to consider whether staff have been categorised as employees, workers or self-employed.
It is also a crucial time to ensure that contracts, handbooks and procedures are reviewed and updated to reflect the forthcoming changes.
For more information, or if you need advice or assistance with this, please contact a member of the Employment Team on 0345 646 0406 or fill in our online enquiry form and a member of our Team will be in touch.