Archive
Month: May 2023
Legal lightbulb – people law, policy and practice
Annual tribunal limit increases
The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2023 has been published, listing the usual annual tribunal award increases. The main increases to be aware of are:
- Maximum compensatory award – now £105,707 (was £93,878)
- A week’s pay for basic award and redundancy payments – now £643 (was £571)
New guidance on voluntary ethnicity pay gap reporting
The government has published guidance for businesses wanting to voluntarily publish their ethnicity pay data. The aim being to develop a consistent approach for businesses to follow in order to allow meaningful comparisons to be drawn.
The guidance provides advice on how to collect data, consideration of data protection issues such as maintaining confidentiality, calculations, reporting, and plenty more. Get ahead and have a go!
New Autism Employment Review announced
The focus of the review is on supporting businesses to recruit and retain individuals affected by autism and to benefit from a more neurodivergent workforce. Currently, less than three in 10 people with autism are in employment – the review will consider how employers can identify and better support individuals, as well as reducing the stigma around neurodiversity.
We’re creating a ‘neurodiversity toolkit’ for employers – get in touch to find out more.
People dates for your diary – June 2023
01-30 | Pride Month
05-11 | Bike Week
05-11 | National Growing for Well-being Week
12-18 | Men’s Health Week
This update is accurate on the date it was published, but may be subject to change which may or may not be notified to you. This update is not to be taken as advice and you should seek advice if anything contained within affects you or your business.
Employment contracts and the ‘3Cs’ – pt.1 | Compliance
It’s safe to say I’ve seen a few employment contracts in my time! A non-compliant employment contract can be expensive – a tribunal can award up to four weeks’ pay for each out-of-date contract you’re using.
Key areas of compliance for employment contracts were introduced in 1996 by the Employment Rights Acts…there’s no excuse for getting those elements wrong! More recently in 2020, the Good Work Plan added more red tape with further compliance requirements which employers have been slow to adopt. Here are the top five areas I’ll see regularly missing from employment contracts:
- Any paid leave the employee benefits from (maternity or paternity leave, for example)
- Details of all remuneration and benefits (such as enhanced maternity pay or private medical insurance)
- Training requirements for the role, whether they’re mandatory, and who will pay for the training
- Whether working hours are variable (or not as the case may be)
- The correct statutory minimum notice employees are entitled to (one week for each complete year they’ve worked for you, up to a maximum of 12 weeks)
Reference to these areas needs to be included within the contract, even if they don’t apply. If there is no training requirement for example, you need to say as much.