Know your rights! Employment Law changes in 2024 for employees

2024 sees changes in the UK Employment Law - employees be sure to know your rights...

National Minimum Wage

The national living wage is increasing to £10.42 an hour to £11.44 an hour giving a boost of £1,800 for full-time workers over the age of 21. National Minimum wage for younger workers aged 18 -20 will also increase to £8.60 an hour – a £1.11 hourly pay rise. The eligibility for the national living wage will also be extended by reducing the age threshold from 23 to 21. In addition National Insurance has been cut from 12% to 10%. This will save those on an average salary of £35,000 over £450 a year.

If you believe that you are not being paid the correct rate of pay then Lawson West are able to guide you on what action you should take.

Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 – 6^th April 2024

The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 is also to come into force on 6 April 2024. These regulations will remove the current 26-week minimum period of service for employees to make a request for flexible working, meaning that it will become a ‘day one’ right with effect from 6 April 2024.

• Employees will be able to make two flexible working requests (rather than just one as at present) in any 12-month period. Only one request can be in progress at any time.

• Employers will be required to ‘consult’ with employees before rejecting any request, although the Act does not include any details of what the consultation process should be.

• Employees will no longer be required, as at present, to identify the effects of the proposed change and suggest how the employer might deal with them.

• Employers will be required to respond to a request within two months rather than three months as currently applies, subject to an agreed extension.

A new ACAS Code of Practice on handling flexible working requests is also due to be approved shortly.

If you would like guidance on how to make such a request or if you feel that your request has been unreasonably refused we are happy to assist.

Carers Leave Act – 6^th April 2024

Employees will have a new statutory right to take one week of unpaid leave per year to provide or arrange care for a dependant with a long-term care need.

These new regulations are expected to apply from 6 April 2024 and details are set out in The Carer's Leave Regulations 2024 which have been published in draft form.

Who is entitled to carer's leave?

This will be a right afforded to all employees who meet the eligibility requirements and is a "day one" right meaning it does not require a particular length of service. To be eligible for carer's leave, an employee must:

• have a dependant with a long-term care need;

• want to be absent from work to provide or arrange care for that dependant; and

• not have exceeded their entitlement of one week of carer's leave in the relevant 12-month period.

A person is a "dependant" of an employee if they (i) are a spouse, civil partner, child or parent of the employee; (ii) live in the same household as the employee, otherwise than by reason of being the employee’s boarder, employee, lodger or tenant, or; (iii) reasonably rely on the employee to provide or arrange care.

A "long-term care need" is defined as an illness or injury (whether physical or mental) that requires, or is likely to require, care for more than three months; a disability under the Equality Act 2010; or issues related to "old age". The carer's leave can be taken in half day or individual day increments up to one continuous week in a 12-month period. The leave does not need to be taken on consecutive days.

What are the steps for employees and employers?

The employee has to give notice to their employer before they can take carer's leave. The employee must specify that they are entitled to this leave, the days or part days on which they intend to take it, and the dependant for whom they are providing or arranging care.

The employer cannot require the employee to supply evidence in relation to their request for carer's leave before granting the leave. The required notice period is either twice as many days as the period of leave required, or three days, whichever is the greater.

Employers cannot decline a request, but can postpone the leave if all of the following circumstances apply:

• If the employer reasonably considers that the operation of the business would be ‘unduly disrupted’.

• The employer allows a period of carer’s leave to be taken by the employee of the same duration, within a month of the initial request.

• The employer gives the employee written notice within seven days of the request, providing the reason for the postponement and confirming the agreed dates for the leave.

Protections:

The employee is protected from any detriment or dismissal by the employer because they took, sought to take, or made use of the benefits of carer's leave, or because the employer believed that they were likely to take carer's leave.

The regulations do not affect any contractual rights to carer's leave that the employee may have, but the employee cannot exercise the statutory and contractual rights separately. The employee can take advantage of whichever right is more favourable in any particular respect.

The Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave, and Shared Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 – 6^th April 2024

Draft regulations bringing into effect the extension to the existing period of redundancy protection applying to employees during family-related leave have also been laid before Parliament. Subject to parliamentary approval, these will take effect from 6 April 2024.

Currently, parents taking a period of maternity leave, adoption leave, or shared parental leave have the right to be offered any suitable alternative employment during a redundancy situation, in priority to any others at risk of redundancy.

As a result of the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023, this protection is extended to apply during pregnancy, and for a period of 18 months after birth or placement for adoption for those taking maternity, adoption or shared parental leave. This means that for an employee taking 12 months’ maternity leave, the protection will continue to apply for six months after their return to work.

Protection will cover a period of pregnancy, if the employer is informed of the pregnancy on or after 6 April 2024. It starts when the employee informs their employer about the pregnancy.

The protection will apply to maternity and adoption leave ending on or after 6 April 2024, and to shared parental leave starting on or after 6 April 2024. Note that for protection to apply after shared parental leave, there is a minimum threshold of six weeks’ continuous leave.

Paternity Leave Regulations - 6th April 2024

The government has now published draft legislation in the form of the Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024.

These Regulations make the following changes:

• employees will be able to take their two-week paternity leave entitlement as two separate one-week blocks rather than taking just one week in total or two consecutive weeks.

• employees will be able to take paternity leave at any time in the 52 weeks after birth - rather than having to take leave in the 56 days following birth.

• employees will only need to give 28 days’ notice of their intention to take paternity leave which is reduced from the previous position that required notice to be given 15 weeks before the Expected Week of Childbirth.

The Regulations are stated to apply in all cases where the EWC is on, or after, 6 April 2024.  

Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act – July 2024

Last year, the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 was passed by parliament. Once this act is in force it will introduce a range of new measures, including a new duty on employers to ensure that all qualifying tips are allocated fairly between workers and a requirement for relevant employers to have a written policy on how they deal with tips.
 
To support employers with these measures, the Department for Business and Trade has now issued a draft statutory code of practice on the fair and transparent distribution of tips. The draft code includes guidance on what types of payment constitute qualifying tips and how an employer should choose the factors to determine the allocation and distribution of such tips. The consultation into the draft code will close on 22 February 2024. The government’s aim is for the final code and the full measures in the Act to come into force on 1 July 2024.

The Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 – predicated September 2024

This Act was was passed on 18 September 2023 and creates a new statutory right for workers on atypical contracts - such as agency workers, short fixed-term workers and those on zero-hours contracts - to request a more predictable working pattern. It is important for employers using these arrangements to be aware of the changes.

The Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023

Although flexibility is a key characteristic of the UK labour market, the Act aims to address the issue of 'one-sided flexibility' whereby workers are not guaranteed work but are expected to be available at short notice with a lack of reciprocity.

The terms of the Act are summarised below, however the details will be published in due course via separate regulations. There is no date for implementation yet, but to give employers time to prepare for the changes the legislation is not expected to come into force until September 2024.

The new right is modelled on the current flexible working regime and will operate in a similar way. However, the right to request predictable working will not be a 'day one right' (as the right to request flexible working is set to become).

In what circumstances can workers request a more predictable working pattern?

Workers will have the right to make a request where:

• There is a lack of predictability as regards any part of the work pattern (the work pattern being the number of working hours, days of the week and times on those days when the worker works, and the contract length);

• The change relates to their work pattern; and

• Their purpose in applying for the change is to get a more predictable work pattern.

Who can request predictable working?

The right extends to all workers and employees subject to a minimum service requirement. Although the length of this has not yet been specified, the government press release has indicated that it will be 26 weeks.

It is not expected that workers will need to have 26 weeks continuous employment, given the aim of the legislation is to improve unpredictable working patterns for atypical workers who are inherently unlikely to have continuous service with the same employer. However, workers need to have been employed by the same employer (whether or not under the same contract) at some point during the month immediately before the minimum service period, ending with the making of the application.

The new law will also apply to agency workers who, if they meet the qualifying conditions, will be able to apply to either the temporary work agency or the hirer to request a more predictable working pattern.

How can predictable working requests be made?

Workers can make a maximum of two applications in any 12-month period. The predictable working application must be (i) in writing; (ii) state that it is a statutory predictable working application; and (iii) specify the change applied for and the date on which it is proposed it should take effect.

If the agency worker is applying to a hirer, they should specify whether the application is for a contract of employment or for a worker's contract. The Act provides some guidance on assessing this.

What about fixed term contracts?

The Act does not contain a definition of 'predictability'. However, it does specify that fixed term contracts of 12 months or less will be presumed to lack predictability: anyone on such a contract will be able to request that the term is extended beyond 12 months or becomes permanent.

How we can help...

The good news is that the upcoming changes are being implemented providing further protection for employees. If you feel that you are being treated unfairly at work for any reason then contact us.

Contact our experienced Employment Law Team on 0116 212 1000

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