February
Statutory Redundancy Pay
When calculating statutory redundancy pay, there is a cap on the weekly rate of pay for an eligible employee. That capped amount has gone up from £430 to £450.
What does it mean?
If an employee who is at risk of redundancy is eligible to receive statutory redundancy pay (SRP) and his or her weekly pay is more than £450, you will base their SRP calculations on the figure of £450 and not their actual weekly rate.
What do I need to do?
If you are currently going through a redundancy process and your SRP calculations were based on the previous rate of £430, you will need to re-calculate SRP for any employee who earns more than £450 weekly. Otherwise, you won’t need to take any action at this time.
March
Parental leave
Previously, employees with children under the age of 5 or 18 (in the case of a disabled child), were entitled to up to 13 weeks unpaid parental leave. From 8th March, an employee will be entitled to 18 weeks parental leave for each child under the age of 5.
What does it mean?
The main features of parental leave remain the same; i.e. leave can only be taken in one-week blocks (unless the child is disabled), up to four weeks leave can be taken in any one year and the leave is unpaid. However, the entitlement for parental leave will be a maximum of 18 weeks instead of 13.
What do I need to do?
If you have a parental leave policy in your employee handbook, you will need to update the total amount of leave allowed from 13 to 18 weeks and you’ll need to make sure that all employees are aware of the change. If any employee requests to take parental leave after 8th March, you need to bear in mind that they’re entitled to more leave in total.
Criminal Record Checks
Criminal Record Checks are renamed Disclosure and Barring Service checks and are now known as DBS checks. They will also become “portable” from one job to another and employers will be able to view the check instantly online from March this year.
What does it mean?
The Home Office website has more detail about the introduction of the DBS here http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/agencies-public-bodies/dbs/services/. The aim of more portable checks is to reduce the need for repeat checks. The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 includes provisions to effect changes relating to DBS checks. A new updating service is due to be introduced so that, once a DBS check has been completed, the results are available online for employers to confirm that no new information has been added since the check was originally conducted. This means that DBS checks will be portable, and that an employee will not have to have a new check every time he or she starts a new job.
What do I have to do?
If you are employing people who need to have criminal record checks because of their roles, you will be able to register with the DBS, pay a fee and apply for access to standard and enhanced criminal record checks.
April
Statutory rates of pay
From April, statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay will all increase from the previous weekly rate of £135.45 to £136.78.
Statutory Sick Pay will also increase at the same time from £85.85 to £86.70 per week.
What does it mean?
Eligible employees on maternity, paternity, adoption or sick leave will all receive a small increase in the weekly rate of pay after April.
What do I have to do?
If an employee is eligible to receive any of the statutory rates of pay outlined above, you must ensure they are receiving the increased rate during periods of leave after April 2013.
Employee-ownership
From April, it looks likely that a new type of employment status will be introduced, called the “employee-owner”.
What does it mean?
In return for shares in your business, your employees would be required to give up certain employment rights, e.g. unfair dismissal protection. They would still keep the right to bring discrimination claims and other automatic unfair dismissal rights would not be affected.
What do I need to do?
If you’re interested in the concept of employee-ownership, you will need to look into it in more detail and take advice on how it would work and what benefit it might bring to your business.
What else is happening?
Fit note guidance
Sometime in Spring 2013, we should see revised guidance on statements of fitness to work (also known as “fit notes”) issued by GPs. The aim is to emphasise the need for GPs to focus on the individual’s ability to do some work rather than just focus on their specific role. There are also plans to set up an independent review body to provide state-funded occupational health assessments but no date has been announced for this yet.
Tribunal fees
We are expecting that the government will introduce the requirement for a fee to be paid if a claim is issued at the Employment Tribunal from this summer.
*******
More information
For more information or specific advice on these changes and how they affect you and your business, contact us on 01487 815720 or info@keepinghrsimple.co.uk.
______________________________________________________