Employment Update:
2012 and Beyond…
By
Andrew Monroe
Employment Advice Manager
ca Plus
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Catch Up - April 2011:
Additional Paternity Leave (APL) for fathers/partners
• For babies born on/after 3rd April 2011 (or placed for adoption)
• Ability to transfer/share unused leave/pay from mother >> father
• Minimum of 2 weeks APL and maximum of 26 weeks (of which up to 19
weeks could also be paid at a flat rate equivalent to SMP), any APL
taken must be continuous
Repeal of Default Retirement Age as of 1st October 2011
• The DRA of 65 years in the Equality Act has been removed
• Hence from April 2011, no longer sufficient time to comply with those
procedures (i.e. 6 months notice) to retire an employee after Oct. 2011
• Retirement will now have to be when the employee wants or, the
employers terminates employment due to incapability
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October 2011: Rates
• National Minimum Wage rises;
i) Adult rate > 21 years of age
ii) Development rate >18-20
iii) Young persons >16 -17
iv) Apprentices
£5.93 > 6.08/hour
£4.92 > 4.98/hour
£3.64 > 3.68/hour
£2.50 > 2.60/hour
• NB. Adult age rate decreased to >21 years as from
October 2010
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Oct. 2011: Agency Workers
Agency Worker Regulations 2011
• Applies if you are an employer and hire temporary
agency workers through a temporary work agency
• Day one rights: equal access rights to all normal facilities
(canteen, crèche, job vacancies, etc.)
• After 12 weeks: equal treatment regarding pay and other
basic employment conditions compared to existing
employees
• Not retrospective before 1st October 2011
• Duty on employer to provide information to work agency
• Anti-avoidance rules!!
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Forthcoming Changes:
Watch This Space!
• The Coalition Government wants to revive the economy
and believes that some existing employment is acting as
a “brake” on a recovery!
• Some existing employment legislation has “Gold Plated”
EU directives and it should be simplified!
• They want to reduce the legislative burden for small
businesses and simplify things!
• They want to make it easier to take on new employees.
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Statutory Rates
From 1st February:
• Cap on a weeks pay (e.g. redundancy calculations)
£400 /week > £430 /week
From 6th April 2012:
• Annual inflationary rise for statutory payments:
SSP > £ 85.85/week
SMP > £135.45 /week
LEL > £107.00/week
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Unfair Dismissal
Expected April 2012
• Extension of the employment service period from one to
two years, to gain protection against unfair dismissal
(Note: Actual number of employees who will “lose out” is
quite small. Statistics indicate that last year unfair dismissal
claims from employees with between one and two years
service was about 350, of which 80% settled/withdrawn
before a hearing!)
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Other Forthcoming
Changes:
Expected April 2012
• Minor Tribunal procedure changes and fees to lodge
claims
• Unpaid Parental Leave period increased to 4 months
• Working Time rules changed to allow annual holiday to
be carried over in limited circumstances
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Pensions: Auto-Enrolment
Starting in October 2012:
• Implementation of the Pensions Act 2008.
• Phased implementation, starting with large employers, in October
2012.
• For small employers (<50 employees) most likely wont start until
2015-2016.
• Main provision is a duty to auto-enrol ALL qualifying employees
into a workplace pension scheme that meets minimum contribution
levels.
• Qualifying employees are those between 22 years and State
pension age, and whose employment is expected to last longer
than 3 months and have earnings greater than £7,475 pa.
• Those aged 16-74 (and earning >£5035pa) can “opt-in”
• Implementation of minimum contributions will be staged: after 3
years there must be a minimum total of 8% of qualifying earnings,
of which 3% MUST come from the employer.
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Longer Term Proposals
Government consultation but no immediate timetable:
• Employer protection to allow “protected conversations”
• Repeal/changes to the TUPE 2006 Regs.
• ACAS conciliation period before Tribunal can proceed
• Fast-Track Tribunal process for simple claims
• Compensated “no-fault” dismissals
• Compromise agreements to be simplified
• Whistleblowing Regs. to be changes to remove possible
breaches of employment contracts
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Are You Up To Date?
Employment legislation is constantly being introduced, so
how do you keep up to date?
• CA Plus Website: contains approx. 20 downloadable
Advice Guides on common employment topics (24/7).
• CA Plus produces a free monthly Employment Law
Update (subscribe via our website for automatic email
notifications: www.caplus.org.uk)
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