In amongst all the changes that have come into force in relation COVID-19 there have been other changes in relation to Employment Law that came into force in early April 2020. Below is a breakdown of those changes and also information on some legislation that has been delayed or suspended.
Changes to written statements of terms and conditions (Contract of Employment)
The requirement for employers to provide a written statement of terms and conditions was extended to workers rather than just employees on 6 April 2020. This includes casual and zero hours workers. Employers are also now required to provide the written statement either before or on the day the individual begins working for the company.
The written statement must include:
- The names of the employer and employee or worker;
- The date of commencement of employment;
- Where the statement is being given to an employee the date when continuous employment began;
- The scale or rate of remuneration or the method of its calculation;
- The intervals at which remuneration is paid;
- Terms relating to hours of work including any provisions relating to normal hours, with a new requirement to include:
- Days of the week when the worker is required to work; and
- If and how working hours or days may be varied and how the variation will be determined;
In addition, the following must also now be included:
- Terms relating to holiday and accrued holiday pay including any entitlement to bank holidays and accrued holiday pay on termination of employment, in enough detail to enable precise calculation of the sums;
- Terms relating to sickness and injury and sick pay which can no longer be provided in instalments;
- Terms relating to any other paid leave;
- Terms relating to any other benefits provided;
- Length of notice to be given by each party;
- Expected length of temporary employment or date fixed-term contract ends;
- Any probationary period, including conditions and its duration;
- Place of work, or if there is none this must be indicated, and the address of the employer included;
- Where the employee or worker is to work abroad for more than one month, the terms relating to working abroad, including the period of work outside the UK, the currency of remuneration while abroad, any additional remuneration and benefits and any terms relating to the employee or worker’s return; and
- Training that the worker must complete, including training for which the employer will not bear the cost.
Many employers already include a significant amount of this information in their contracts of employment however, some employers only provide a very basic written statement to employees.
It is important that your written statement or contracts of employment are up to date and ready to be provided to workers and employees on the day they start work. You may also wish to to review your Staff Handbook as you can refer employees to it for further information on some of these points rather than including full details of everything in the written statement or contract of employment.
Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay
A new law referred to as “Jack’s Law” provides that parents of a child who dies on or after 6 April 2020 have the right to two weeks’ parental bereavement leave. This also applies to stillbirths occurring after 24 weeks of pregnancy. Parents are entitled to be paid at a statutory minimum rate however, employers can choose to pay them full pay.
Employers will need to review their current bereavement or compassionate leave policy to ensure it complies with this new legislation.
National Minimum Wage Increases
| Previous Rate | Rate From 1 April 2020 | |
| National Living Wage | £8.21 | £8.72 |
| 21 – 24 Year Olds | £7.70 | £8.20 |
| 18 – 20 Years Olds | £6.15 | £6.45 |
| 16 – 17 Year Olds | £4.35 | £4.55 |
| Apprentices | £3.90 | £4.15 |
| Accommodation Offset | £7.55 | £8.20 |
Statutory Family-Related Pay Increase
Statutory maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental pay increased to £151.20 a week from 5 April 2020.
Statutory Sick Pay
Statutory sick pay increased to £95.85 a week from 6 April 2020. The Government announced that employees who are on sickness leave due to COVID-19 can receive statutory sick pay from the first day of sickness, rather than after three waiting days.
Unfair Dismissal Compensation
The maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal increases from £86,444 to £88,519 for dismissals that take place on or after 6 April 2020.
Statutory Redundancy Pay
The maximum weekly amount for redundancy pay increased to £538 from 6 April 2020.
Holiday Pay Calculations for Workers with Irregular Hours
On 6 April 2020, the holiday pay reference period for workers without normal working hours increased from 12 weeks to 52 weeks.
Agency Workers Pay
On 6 April 2020, the ability for employers to pay agency workers less than their own workers in certain circumstances, also known as the “Swedish derogation”, was abolished. Agency workers who have completed the 12-week qualifying period should be paid equally to other staff.
Due to COVID-19 some legislation has been delayed or suspended this includes:
Gender Pay Gap Reporting
Since April 2017, businesses with 250 or more employees have been required to file a gender pay gap report. The deadline for private-sector and voluntary-sector employers to publish their report was 4 April 2020 and public-sector employers were required to have published theirs no later than 30 March 2020.
Employers are required to publish their reports on their websites in a publicly accessible manner and it must remain on the website for at least 3 years. Employers are also required to upload the results to the Government’s reporting website.
However, due to COVID-19 the government announced in March that they were suspending enforcement of the gender pay gap reporting for this year. Employers who had already started compiling their report have been urged to publish it once the situation with COVID-19 has passed.
Failure to report by the required deadline, which will be notified once the suspension is lif
ted may adversely affect a company’s reputation both with current and future employees and, customers and competitors.
Off-payroll working (IR35)The Government announced in March, as part of their Covid-19 economic response package, that the implementation of reforms to off-payroll working rules has been delayed for 12 months.
The rules, which are to ensure that two people sitting side by side doing the same work for the same employer are taxed in the same way, will now come into effect on 6 April 2021.
Off-payroll working rules, were introduced in 2000 to ensure that someone working like an employee, but through their own limited company, pays broadly the same tax as someone employed directly.
The reforms were announced in the 2018 Budget and make medium and large organisations in the private and third sectors responsible for determining the tax status of contractors and ensuring that the right employment taxes are paid. The reforms are a significant change for both businesses and contractors and have already been implemented in the public sector.
The new introduction date will be legislated in the upcoming Finance Bill.