Upcoming Changes

Date

2024/2025 Planned and Expected Changes

1 October 2024 

 • Allocation of tips - Current legislation allows employers to take a percentage of tips earned by staff. The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 will make it unlawful for employers not to provide employees with 100% of the tips left by customers. It is proposed that tips will be distributed in a fair and transparent manner, so that employees are paid what they have earned. A new statutory code of practice was published on 29 July 2024 to give employers and staff guidance on how tips should be fairly allocated amongst employees. An employee can enforce their rights through the employment tribunal system if they feel their employer has not complied with the code. Employers will have to record tips and show how they have been allocated. Records will need to be kept for a minimum period and employees will have a right to request to see these records. Further information on this will be provided on or before 1 October 2024.

26 October 2024

• Sexual harassment - The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 was passed on 20 October 2023 and received royal assent on 26 October 2023 and will come into force on 26 October 2024. The act makes provisions in relation to the duties of employers and the protection of workers from harassment (including sexual harassment) under the Equality Act 2010. The Bill creates new legal liabilities for employers, including protecting employees against third-party harassment during the course of employment (for example by clients or customers). If they fail to take all reasonable steps to prevent the third-party harassment, employers may be liable. The act also include a new duty on employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment suffered by employees during their employment. If the duty is found to have been breached, an uplift of up to 25% of the compensation award may be added by a Tribunal. Further information on this will be provided on or before 26 October 2024.

Autum 2024

• Predictable working patterns - The Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 has received Royal Assent and whilst it was expected to come into force in September or October 2024, no firm date has been confirmed as yet. The Act will amend the Employment Rights Act 1996 to give workers (including those on zero-hours contracts) and agency workers the right to request a predictable work pattern if they satisfy certain eligibility criteria.

If a worker’s existing working pattern is uncertain in terms of the hours and times they work, or if it is a fixed term contract for less than 12 months, they will be able to apply to change their working pattern to make it more predictable.

The procedure for dealing with a request for a predictable working pattern is on a par with flexible-working requests. But there is one big difference as such requests for a predictable working pattern must be dealt with by the employer within one month.

The qualifying period is likely to be 26 weeks’ service although those weeks will not need to be continuous and a maximum of 2 applications can be made in any 12-month period.

If a request is granted, then employers must offer the new terms within two weeks of granting the request. Employers cannot make detrimental changes to other contractual terms at the same time as making the changes required as a result of the approved request for predictability.

ACAS closed the consultation on the Code of Practice on 26 January 2024 and they are reviewing the response. Once completed they will provide guidance on how to handle requests.

April 2025

• Neonatal care leave - The overall intention of this Act is for a parent whose child is admitted to neonatal care (within 28 days from the day after birth) to have a new statutory right, from the outset of their employment, to take neonatal care leave. The maximum length of the leave and the eligibility conditions will be set out in the regulations (yet to be published). However, the Government has previously indicated that the maximum period of leave will be set at 12 weeks.

In addition, parents taking neonatal care leave who have at least 26 weeks’ continuous service will be entitled to neonatal care pay, subject to eligibility conditions which are likely to be similar to other types of statutory pay. Although, It is thought neonatal care pay will be calculated at the normal flat rate for statutory pay, rather than the enhanced rate that applies to the first six weeks of statutory maternity pay.

The bill received royal assent on 24 May 2023 however there is a considerable amount of detail still to be resolved, so this is not expected to be implement until April 2025.

Date

2024 Implemented

18 July 2024

• Fire and re-hire code of practice - An order has been made bringing the Code of Practice into effect on 18 July 2024. The new Code will not apply where the prospect of dismissal and re-engagement has been raised by the employer before this date. The Code of Practice sets out the employer’s responsibilities when seeking to change employee’s terms and conditions by way of dismissal and re-engagement (or “fire and re-hire” as it is often termed). The Code does not make the practice of “fire and re-hire” illegal, but it is intended to supplement ACAS guidance introduced in 2021. It recommends that the practice should be used as a last resort and makes recommendations for sharing information and keeping changes under review. Failure to comply with the Code will not give rise to a standalone claim. However, where an employer fails to take the Code into account, an employment tribunal will have the power to apply an uplift of up to 25% to compensation awarded in a relevant claim such as unfair dismissal. Further information on this to be provided in due course.

1 July 2024

• TUPE – an amendment to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) 2006, also referred to as TUPE, came into effect on 1 July 2024. Under previous TUPE legislation (for processes triggered prior to 1 July 2024) there was an exemption for microbusiness consultations wherein organisations of fewer than 10 employees can inform and consult directly with employees, where no existing representation is in place. However, from 1 July 2024 this exemption has been extended meaning where no existing representation is in place employers may consult directly with employees where: 

• the business employs fewer than 50 employees, or,
• for businesses of any size, where fewer than 10 employees are affected. 

6 April 2024

• Flexible working - All employees now have the statutory right to make a flexible working request from day one of employment. Previously employees needed to have 26 weeks continuous service to exercise this right.

In addition to this, the employees right to only make 1 request in any 12-month period has been increased to 2 requests in any 12-month period.

The last change to the Flexible Working Regulations 2014 is the time period in which employers need to respond to a request, has been reduced from 3 months to 2 months, including any appeals.

6 April 2024

• Carers Leave – The Carers Leave Regulations 2024 gives employees an entitlement to request up to 1 weeks unpaid leave to care for and/or arrange care for a dependent with long-term care needs. This is a day one right.

The 1 weeks leave can be taken in a 12-month period as either half days, full days or a full week however, the employee will be required to comply with set notice requirements to request the leave.

Employers may not be able to decline the leave but it can be postponed, for business reasons, by up to 1 month from the requested leave date.

6 April 2024

• Paternity leave – The Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 meant that now employees who met the eligibility criteria will be able to request paternity leave as either 2 weeks together or 2 separate blocks of one week.

In addition to this the time employees have to take this leave has been increased from 56 days to 52 weeks from the actual birth of the child or placement.

6 April 2024

• Maternity and redundancy protection - Before you can make employees who are pregnant or returning from maternity, adoption or shared parental redundant, redundancy protection regulations will require an employer to give that employee first refusal on a suitable alternative vacancy where one exists. This gives employees on these types of leave priority access to redeployment opportunities over other redundant employees. This protection covers the follows periods:

1 April 2024

• Holidays for irregular hours and part-year workers - In 2019 the Harpur v Brazel case shook employment law with many employers being vocal about their displeasure with the ruling. Due to this, the Government carried out a consultation into holiday entitlement for irregular hours and part-year workers, the outcome of this consultation was to make the following changes to the Working Time Regulations.

The changes to the regulations came into effect on 1 January 2024 but some changes will not be implemented until the beginning of the holiday leave year on or after 1 April 2024.