The Department for Work & Pensions have announced proposed rates for an increase to Statutory Sick Pay and Statutory Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Pay. The changes are expected to apply from 9th April 2012.
The new rates will be:
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Employment law changed in 2011 and other new legislation is on its way this year in 2012. We review the important developments from the past year and urge employers to keep their policies up to date.
PATERNITY LEAVE
Additional paternity leave was introduced from 6 April 2011. Additional paternity leave can be taken 20 weeks after the child is born. It must finish before the child’s first birthday. Until now, fathers have only been entitled to two weeks paid paternity leave, but the new additional leave allows eligible employed fathers or partners to take an extra 26 weeks leave to care for the baby, if the mother returns to work before the end of her maternity leave.
RETIREMENT AGE
The default retirement age has now been phased out, meaning that employers are no longer allowed to dismiss staff because they have reached the age of 65. With this change from the Government we encourage employers to hold ongoing communications with their staff to establish their plans, since employees now have the power to decide their own retirement date.
AGENCY WORKERS
On 1 October 2011 the Agency Workers Regulations came into force. These require that the basic working and employment conditions of agency workers are no less favourable than if the workers had been recruited directly by the business. The equal treatment entitlements relate to pay and other basic working conditions and comes into effect after an agency worker completes a 12-week qualifying period.
LOOKING AHEAD
This year will be an important one for employment legislation and businesses should keep their policies up-to-date and review them regularly.
UNFAIR DISMISSAL
From 6 April 2012 employees will require two years’ service before they can bring an Employment Tribunal claim for unfair dismissal. If employees are unable to bring an unfair dismissal claim they may try to find a discrimination angle so that they can bring a claim.
PENSIONS
Between October 2012 and October 2016, all UK employers will have to pay into a pension scheme for their staff. All companies must automatically enrol all employees into a pension scheme which both parties pay into. This will only apply to employees earning more than £7,500 and who have been with the company for three months or more.
PARENTAL LEAVE
In March, parental leave following the birth or adoption of a child increases from three to four months. At least one of the four months will not be transferable between parents.
Does your business have an absence problem? How much is absence costing your business? It is important to monitor just what is going on.
It can cause so much disruption to the business when one member of staff phones in sick. It is therefore important to ensure that it is well managed and absence levels kept under control. If you have employees who are regularly off sick it can really affect the morale of those who are left to cover their workload, and staff can see managers failing to deal with it as a weakness in their leadership.
Steps to take
Your absence policy should set out what the business expects from employees, explaining what they must do if they are sick, who they must contact and by what time. I would also recommend including this procedure in the employment contract discussed at induction.
One way to start controlling absence is by conducting a return-to-work interview on the employee’s first day back at work, even if they have only been off for one day.Managers need to be investigative and counselling in their approach during the interview, to help uncover any underlying health or work problems an employee might have. The purpose of the interview is to:
You must be fair and consistent, and treat all staff the same. By regularly monitoring absence all you will start to see a decline in staff sick days, which will save you money.
The National Minimum Wage increased as from 1 October 2011.
The new rates will be:
£6.08 per hour – workers 21 and over
£4.98 per hour – workers 18-20
£3.68 per hour – workers 16-17 above school leaving age but under 18
£2.60 per hour – for apprentices under 19, or 19 or over and in the first year of an apprentice
On 1st October 2011 the Agency Workers Regulations come into force. They require that the basic working and employment conditions of agency workers are no less favourable than if the workers had been recruited directly by the hirer. The equal treatment entitlements relate to pay and other basic working conditions and come into effect after an agency worker completes a 12-week qualifying period in the same job with the same hirer, which starts on 1 October 2011 and is not retrospective for those agency workers already on assignment.
As an employer, if you hire temporary agency workers through a temporary work agency, you will need to provide the agency with up-to-date information on your terms and conditions so that it can ensure that the agency worker receives the correct equal treatment, after 12 weeks in the same job.
Equal treatment
Once the agency worker completes a 12-week qualifying period with you, in the same role, they will be entitled to have the same basic terms and conditions of employment as if they had been employed directly by the company. These are:
As the business owner you are responsible for ensuring that all agency workers can access your facilities and have access to your job vacancies from the first day they work at your setting.
Pregnant agency workers who have completed the 12- week qualifying period will be entitled to paid time off for antenatal appointments.
Calculating the qualifying period
The qualifying period is triggered by working in the same job with the same hirer for 12 calendar weeks. A calendar week is any period of seven days, starting with the first day of an assignment. Calendar weeks will be accrued regardless of how many hours the worker does on a weekly basis. So if an agency worker is on assignment for only a couple of hours a week, it still counts as a week and they will be entitled to equal treatment after 12 calendar weeks.
An agency worker can bring a claim for compensation to a tribunal if they are not receiving their entitlement under the regulations. The compensation would be equal to the losses they had suffered because they did not receive it. If the worker successfully brings a claim for failing to provide the benefits from day one, the liability will be solely with the hirer.
If you are going to hire agency workers, seek advice to ensure you follow the regulations.
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