Keeping up to date
We take seriously our responsibility to keep you up to date so that you can use changes in employment law to commercial advantage. By understanding and interpreting the latest case law and legislation we can deliver updates to you that are concise and usable. With imagination, we are able to ensure that developing law can be used to allow you to achieve commercial solutions, cost effectively and expediently.
Legal lightbulb – people law, policy and practice
As part of keeping you in our focus, our ‘legal lightbulb’ update ensures you’re on top of the latest changes in legislation, case law, and people trends.
Increased penalty for illegal working
The Home Office has updated the ‘Employer’s guide to right to work checks’. Applying to any right-to-work checks completed on or after 13 February 2024, fines for repeated breaches of the right-to-work scheme have increased to £60,000 per illegal worker (the first breach is capped at a maximum of £45,000). The increased penalty doesn’t apply if you’ve ended any illegal working identified on or before 12 February 2024.
Gender pay gap reporting
The 04 April 2024 reporting deadline is approaching to submit 2023/24 reports (or 31 March for public-sector organisations). If you employed 250 or more employees on the ‘snapshot date’ (05 April 2023) you need to submit a report and base your calculations on payroll data taken on this snapshot date. You’re not legally required to provide a supporting narrative, but there are reputational benefits in doing so to create the context for your report and set out your action plan for closing any pay gap you might have. Click here if you want to discuss with us your approach to gender pay gap reporting.
Increase in long-term illness
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that 2.8 million people are economically inactive due to long-term illness – an increase since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. Maximising occupational health guidance, greater flexible working, and supporting individuals with caring responsibilities have been highlighted as key drivers to tackling long-term illness and encouraging individuals back to work. If you have an absent employee and you’re struggling to secure their return, contact us here.
Annual increase to tribunal compensation limits
From 06 April 2024 the following increases will take effect:
- A week’s pay (for the purposes of statutory redundancy pay calculations and calculating a basic award in the Employment Tribunal) will increase from £643 to £700; and
- The maximum limit of a compensatory award in the Employment Tribunal will increase from £105,707 to £115,115.
People diary dates – April 2024
05 – Walk to Work Day
01-30 – Stress Awareness Month
01-30 – Active for April