New employment laws: update – 2023 /24 | Consensus HR – Herts, Beds
A Consensus HR, we always ensure our clients are kept up to date on new and changes to current Employment Law as they happen and 2023 so far has been a busy year for employment law, with a number of new laws gaining Royal Assent. Many of these will not come into force until 2024 or beyond, however, giving employers plenty of time to become familiar with the new requirements and plan how they will be introduced and implemented into their organisation.
The new Laws are:
-
Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023
-
Carer’s Leave Act 2023
-
Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023
-
Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023
-
Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023
-
Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023
-
Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) Act 2023
Our Chartered Institute the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) have written a brief summary of each of the new laws which can be seen below:
Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023
Once implemented, employers will be required to pass on 100% of tips, gratuities and service charges via a fair process of distribution.
This received Royal Assent on 2 May 2023. A commencement date has not yet been announced but is expected to be around a year after Royal Assent was given, to give time for secondary legislation to be created and put before Parliament and for a new statutory Code of Practice to be written and subjected to public consultation.
Once the Code of Practice has been released, employers can start to design and implement policies and practices on allocating tips.
Carer’s Leave Act 2023
A brand-new right, this will give unpaid carers the right to up to five days’ leave per year to provide, or make arrangements for, care for someone with a long-term care need who is dependent upon them.
This received Royal Assent on 24 May 2023. A commencement date has not yet been announced but this is not expected to be before April 2024, to give employers time to create new processes to keep track of this leave and ensure staffing levels are sufficient to accommodate it.
Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023
Protection from redundancy will be extended beyond maternity leave to include during pregnancy, or adoption or shared parental leave, and for six months after.
This received Royal Assent on 24 May 2023. Regulations will need to be put before Parliament with the finer details of this right before it can be implemented, which the Government has confirmed will happen “in due course”.
Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023
This will require minimum service levels to be met in certain industries for strike action to be lawful.
This received Royal Assent on 20 July 2023. Secondary legislation is needed to determine the specific minimum service levels for particular sectors before this Act can be implemented.
Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023
New parents will be able to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave, in addition to existing leave entitlements, to allow them to spend more time with their baby who has been hospitalised (up to 28 days after birth) and who needs a continuous stay in hospital of seven full days or more.
The Bill received Royal Assent on 24 May 2023. However, before it can be implemented, seven statutory instruments are expected to be laid before Parliament “in due course”.
Ultimately, introduction of this leave and pay is not expected until April 2025, however provisions in the Act are anticipated to commence ahead of this date.
Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023
This was given Royal Assent on 18 September 2023. Under this, all workers, including those on zero-hours contracts, will have the legal right to request a predictable working pattern.
If their existing working pattern lacks certainty in respect of the hours they work or the times they work, or if it is a fixed-term contract for less than 12 months, they will be able to make a formal application to change their working pattern to make it more predictable.
- Employers will have to notify the employee of their decision within one month of the request.
- Refusal is permitted provided it is on one of the prescribed grounds, which mirror the grounds for refusing a flexible working request.
- It is anticipated that 26 weeks’ service will be needed before a request can be made, however, this will need to be confirmed by the regulations.
It is expected that the measures in the Act and secondary legislation will come into force in approximately a year. Acas will produce a new Code of Practice to provide further guidance on making and handling requests, to assist employers in managing this new right, the draft of which will be available for public consultation this autumn.
Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) Act 2023
This received Royal Assent on 18 September 2023. Once implemented, it will lower the age at which eligible workers must be automatically enrolled into a pension scheme by their employer from 22 to 18. The Department for Work and Pensions will launch a consultation on implementing the new measures in due course.
YOUR OUTSOURCED HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT.
For further information on any of the HR subjects we provide, please click the heading below:
