Thank you to those who attended our Employment Law Annual Conference last Thursday, we hope you found it informative and enjoyable. We would also like to thank our guest speakers, Richard Stubbs and Russell Beck for their expert insights and practical strategies.
With significant recent changes and further changes on the horizon, employers across the country are feeling unnerved, but we hope the conference has equipped you to deal with the likely changes that are due to take place and how to prepare your “strategies for success”.
As discussed, we are waiting for further details of the proposed changes and, with this in mind, we will be running further virtual and in-person updates to ensure you are kept informed.
In the meantime, please see a summary of the key points from the conference below:
The New Employment Landscape
The Government has promised a raft of changes in an attempt to grow the economy by supporting people into work and improving the lives of working people, with better pay and a better work-life balance.
It seems apparent to us that the Labour Government is seeking to reform / implement employment laws with the aim of creating a greater sense of security for workers. The hope being that greater job security will promote greater engagement which, so the research suggests, will promote productivity.
Here is a list of some of the key proposed changes that were discussed:
Reforming Unfair Dismissal:
- The Employment Rights bill, due to be released in mid-October is set to make protection from unfair dismissal available from day one for all workers. However, it is also likely that employers will be allowed to operate probationary periods to assess new hires.
- There are also proposals to extend this protection to “workers” and to extend the time limit to submit unfair dismissal claims to the Employment Tribunal.
- Employers should consider implementing effective probationary periods, have robust recruitment and onboarding practices, and clear policies regarding performance management. We also recommend that they train managers ahead of the changes.
Better Pay:
- National Living Wage: The Government is committed to providing a real living wage by creating one rate of the National Living Wage (NLW) for those 18 years and over, and for the 18–20-year-old rate of National Minimum Wage (NMW) to be phased out over time. It is estimated that the NLW of £12.10 will be required to maintain this ratio (but this rate is subject to change). We anticipate that changes will come into effect in April 2025 – it is important for employers to budget for pay increases and consider what other benefits and flexibility can be offered to ensure the workforce remains engaged.
- Statutory Sick Pay (SSP): The Government has indicated that it intends to make SSP available for all employees from day one of sick leave, removing the three-day waiting period and the lower earnings limit (currently £123 per week). We anticipate that this change may come into effect in April 2025 – it is important for employers to ensure sickness absence is managed effectively and to create a health and wellbeing strategy to minimise sickness absence.
- Pay reporting: For organisations with more than 250 employees, there will be a mandatory requirement to publish ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting – it is therefore important for organisations to consider how to collect data, how to identify pay gaps, and to devise an action plan to close any pay discrepancies.
Flexible Working:
- Day one right: Flexible working requests are now available to all employees on day one of service, pursuant to The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act, which came into force on 6th April 2024. The rationale is to move towards a culture of flexibility – Employers have an opportunity to review working practices and consider how they can make flexible working the default in the workplace.
- Right to disconnect: The Government is proposing to introduce a right for employees to ‘switch off’ and not be routinely contacted by their employer outside their normal working hours. It is unlikely that this change will be implemented this year – therefore, employers have time to implement effective measures.
Carers and Family Rights:
- Carer’s Leave: The Carer’s Leave Act 2023 came into force in April this year. This is a day one right giving employees the right to one week of unpaid leave every rolling 12 months to provide or arrange care for a dependant with a long-term care need – employers may want to get ahead of their competitors by considering enhancing existing rights g. by offering the right to contractual pay when taking carer’s leave and/or providing an opportunity to take more leave to care for a dependant.
- Pregnancy: The Government also plans to enhance rights for new mothers by making it unlawful to dismiss a woman within six months of her return from maternity leave, except in specific circumstances. We do not know yet what those permitted exceptions will be, although it is likely to include gross misconduct and genuine redundancy situations. Further detail is expected in the Employment Bill.
- Parental Rights: Parental leave is currently available to employees who have been continuously employed for more than a year to take up to 18 weeks’ unpaid leave to look after a child up to their 18th birthday. The Government plans to review the current parental leave system before July 2025, and it is suggested that this may become a day one right.
- Bereavement Leave: The Government also plans to introduce a statutory right to bereavement leave for all workers (currently there is only a statutory right to two weeks parental bereavement leave if an employee suffers the trauma of losing a child under the age of eighteen or if a baby is stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy).
Duty to Prevent Sexual Harassment in the Workplace:
- From 26th October 2024, under the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, employers will be under a positive duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. If they fail to do so, not only is it likely that they will be liable for any sexual harassment which occurs in the workplace, but they will also face an increase in compensation of up to 25% if faced with an Employment Tribunal claim.
- With compensation for discrimination being uncapped, and the highest Employment Tribunal award for sex discrimination in 2022/2023 being just shy of a £1,000,000, a 25% uplift could represent a significant increase in the potential level of compensation awarded.
- Employers want to build workplaces that are free from harassment and this new legislation will provide them with the perfect opportunity to look at how they might do that in the context of sexual harassment, hopefully building upon existing practices, to ensure that they have taken reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment from occurring at their workplaces.
Business Reorganisations
- Dismissal & Re-engagement: A new statutory Code of Practice on dismissal and re-engagement came into effect on the 18th of July 2024 (Code of Practice on dismissal and re-engagement issued by the Secretary of State under Section 203 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992). The new code grants Employment Tribunals the power to increase employees’ compensation by 25% if the employer does not comply with the Code. The Code encourages employers to consult with employees / representatives for as long as reasonably possible and to do so in good faith. Firing and re-hiring must therefore be a matter of last resort. The Labour government are however proposing to reform the Code.
- Redundancy: The Government pledges to “strengthen redundancy rights and protections, for example, ensuring that the duty to consult collectively is determined by the number of people impacted across the business or company, rather than in one office or workplace”. This is a move towards greater collective consultation and collaboration between companies and representatives.
- TUPE: The Government proposes to strengthen the existing set of rights and protections for workers subject to TUPE processes, although no further detail has been provided.
- Trade Union and Industrial Action: The Government is likely to repeal the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023, Strikes Repeal of the Trade Union Act 2016, and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses (Amendment) Regulations 2022, SI 2022/852 (these regulations enable employment businesses to provide agency workers during official strike or industrial action). The Government are also looking to introduce a number of other duties to promote trade unions and trade union representation, including a positive duty on employers to inform new workers of their right to join a trade union through the written statement of particulars.
Richard Stubbs – Trinity Chambers
Richard Stubbs is a Barrister with over 18 years’ experience. Recognised as a leading Barrister in the Legal 500 UK directory, he is known for his employment expertise and is regularly instructed for multi-day hearings in all areas of employment and discrimination law.
Richard offered key advice for navigating Employment Tribunal claims, emphasising the importance of timing, engaging Counsel at an effective stage, and collecting thorough documentation for disclosure. Richard also highlights that timely action is crucial due to strict time limits and encourages considering early settlement discussions to avoid lengthy Tribunal processes, which can save time and costs while managing reputational risk.
Russell Beck – ImagineThinkDo
Russell is a thought leader, using research and insight to challenge preconceptions. He is an experienced speaker, utilising his broad experience from a diverse career including senior roles as an engineer managing large-scale international projects, leading a £120m talent management business and growing a successful consulting operation from scratch.
Russell delivered a compelling presentation that shed light on the current employment landscape and offered innovative strategies for keeping staff happy and engaged. Russell emphasised that understanding the evolving needs and expectations of employees is crucial in today’s competitive market.
We hope you enjoyed the conference and found it informative. If you haven’t already subscribed and you would like to receive invitations to our events and copies of our regular newsletter, please contact LauraWatts@greene-greene.com to be added to our mailing list.
This is only intended to be a summary and not specific legal advice. If you would like further information or advice, please do contact a member of our Employment team.