Changes in UK Employment Law: What’s In Store for 2024?

There is a statutory right to one week’s unpaid Carer’s Leave with effect from 6 April 2024 to enable employees to provide or arrange for the care of a dependant. 

If an employer wishes to enhance this entitlement by offering paid leave, it will be appropriate for the company to set out its own internal rules and requirements for the paid element of the leave (and/or additional days that it may decide to grant). This means that it would be possible to ask the employee to supply additional details (to specifically access paid leave). Any such arrangements would need to be set out in a clear company policy. 

Just to note - if such an arrangement is introduced, our advice is that you should not retain copies of any documentary evidence that may be shared given the sensitivity of this information and data protection and privacy considerations. It would be sufficient to simply make a written note that evidence had been seen by an appropriate manager and the date it had been seen. Otherwise, evidence is not required for the statutory entitlement to one week’s unpaid Carer’s Leave.

If an employer already offers one day of paid leave for carers, it can be included as part of the new statutory right to one week’s unpaid Carer’s Leave - i.e. in this instance, for a full-time employee, they would have the right to 5 days Carer’s Leave, with one day being paid (as an enhancement provided by the employer) and the remaining 4 days being unpaid.

Yes - it will be appropriate to ask for employees to complete a written notification of the requirement to take Carer’s Leave and/or a self-certification form. HR Duo clients will have access to editable templates that can be used for this purpose.

There is an existing entitlement to Care of Dependants Leave. This allows employees to take reasonable time off from work (unpaid) so that they can respond in the first instance to an unplanned or unforeseen emergency involving the care of a dependant. This means that this type of leave cannot be used to accompany someone to a planned medical appointment or for an employee to provide care themselves.

The new right to Carer’s Leave being introduced in April 024 is, however,  intended to be used in such instances where a dependent has a long-term care need with a foreseeable need for support  - i.e. an illness or injury that lasts (or is likely to last) more than 3 months, a disability, or issues related to old age. To confirm, this means, for example, that Carer’s Leave could be used for accompanying someone to planned medical appointments or providing care.

The Equality Act 2010 did not previously protect breastfeeding women from less favourable treatment at work(!). The changes that have been introduced in January 2024 mean that if a woman is treated less favourably because she is breastfeeding, she now has the ability to make a claim for direct sex discrimination.

Under the Working Time Regulations, workers are entitled to a statutory minimum of 28 days (5.6 weeks) annual leave per year. Employers can include bank holidays as part of the minimum entitlement. For example, for employers who do this in England and Wales where there are 8 bank holidays, this means in effect that the holiday entitlement is made up of 8 days that are fixed (in terms of when they are taken) and 20 days where the worker can choose (with employer agreement) when to use their holiday. There are 9 bank holidays in Scotland and 10 in Northern Ireland.

The new category of Part-Year worker relates specifically to those whose contract terms include the principle that at different parts of the year they will not be required to work (and will not receive pay for when they are not working). This, for example, relates to seasonal workers and term-time workers who - in essence - have an “umbrella contract” which spans even the periods where they are not required to work.

If you employ someone and then dismiss them within the leave year (issuing a P45), this does not mean that they are classed as a Part-Year worker. In this scenario, their entitlement to leave will be calculated on a pro-rata basis (as per your current practice).

Yes - normal pay should reflect any elements related to basic pay, commission, regular payments (e.g. overtime) and payments related to professional or personal status. The underlying principle is that workers should not be financially disadvantaged for taking holiday. Payments that are regularly paid - and which therefore become relied upon - should be reflected in the “normal pay” rate.

If an employer is relying on bank holidays to make up the statutory minimum holiday entitlement (eg saying that the 8 bank holidays in England and Wales are included in the 28-day entitlement, bank holidays will accrue during family leave (eg maternity leave). 

An employee is entitled to take paternity leave if they meet the qualifying criteria and provide the required periods of notice, i.e. notification of their intention to take paternity leave by the 15th week before the baby is due, and 28 days notice of the start of the period(s) of paternity leave.

This means that it will be advisable to encourage employees to talk to you at the earliest opportunity about how they might plan to take their entitlement to paternity leave. The start date of paternity leave can be delayed if the employee has not provided the required 28-day notice.

Following a TUPE-in transfer, the new employer (the transferee) will be liable for any issues arising in relation to employment matters, right-to-work checks and other compliance requirements. In view of this, it is advisable to complete right-to-work checks following a transfer to ensure that appropriate evidence is in place - there is a “grace period” of 60 days for the transferee to enable this to happen.

In short, there are 3 ways to complete right-to-work checks

i) by manually checking original documents such as a passport from List A or a combination of documents as contained within List B (see here for further information on the prescribed lists)

ii) digitally (for British and Irish citizens only) using an approved Identity Service Provider;

iii) online using an access share code from the employee and using the Home Office website to view biometric or e-Visa proof of status (for non-British and non-Irish citizens only).

Where statutory entitlements are classed as a “day 1 right”, they will take effect from the very first day of employment (i.e. there is no minimum service criteria). This means that probationary employees will also be entitled to such rights.