Our Trusted Partner Adrian Berwick of ABHR Solutions has put together this article giving a summary of key changes to Employment Law
Rolled-up holiday pay/holiday accrual
As part of the phased implementation of a legal change in 2024, employers with a holiday year running from January to December will now be able to use the new method of annual leave accrual and rolled-up holiday pay for irregular hour and part-year workers.
Effective January 2025
Fire and rehire
Tribunals to have the ability to uplift compensatory awards to employees by up to 25% if a business has failed to follow the statutory code of practice introduced in July 2024.
Effective January 2025
National minimum wage
National Living Wage will increase to £12.21 per hour and other increases as follows
| Rate for 18 – 20 year olds | £10.00 per hour |
| Under 18 | £7.55 per hour |
| Apprentice | £7.55 per hour |
Effective pay periods on or after April 1, 2025.
Statutory Payments
The following increases will apply
Statutory Sick Pay increases to £118.75 per week
Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) and other family leave payments including statutory paternity pay etc will increase to £187.18 per week.
Effective April 6, 2025
Neonatal care leave
Under the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023, parents of babies who are admitted to hospital before 28 days old and for at least one week would get a maximum of 12 weeks leave, paid at the statutory rate, in addition to maternity/paternity leave.
Effective April 6, 2025
Paternity (bereavement) leave
Under the Paternity (Bereavement) Leave Act 2023, fathers and non-birthing partners would be entitled to paternity leave from day one of employment if the mother of the baby dies. It is also intended to extend paternity leave to the same length as maternity leave in these circumstances.
Effective date – to be confirmed.
Employment of children in England
Proposed changes to restrictions including a requirement for all children to have a permit, and increasing maximum working hours.
Effective date – to be confirmed
Domestic abuse – ‘safe leave’
Under the Domestic Abuse (Safe Leave) Bill, employees suffering from domestic abuse will have a right for up to two weeks’ paid leave.
Effective date – to be confirmed
Office of the Whistleblower
Under the Office of the Whistleblower Bill, the independent office will set, monitor and enforce standards for the management of whistleblowing cases. It will provide disclosure and advice services, direct investigations, and order redress to whistleblowers providing employees and individuals with greater protections.
Effective date – to be confirmed.
Employment Rights Bill
It is important not to get confused with the proposals being set out by the Labour Government for changes which are still going through a consultation phase and it is still anticipated that these changes will be implemented for Autumn 2026.
The major change here is the removal of the 2 years qualifying period before an employee can bring a claim for unfair dismissal but it is now looking as if there will be a statutory probation period of up to 9 months. However, it is too premature to start to amend the wording of contracts because the devil will be in the detail.
Other features of the Employment Rights Bill will include changes to zero hours contracts, statutory sick pay from day one, increased rights in respect of flexible working, outlawing fire and re-hire practices and the time limit that an employee has to bring claims to an Employment Tribunal will be extended from 3 to 6 months.
However, this is still very much “work in progress” and as ever, the devil will be in the detail but it is important to be aware that change is on the horizon.
There is considerable speculation across the media about the changes and quite a bit of sensational headline grabbing – be sure that what you are reading is accurate.
Adrian Berwick offers HR support to SMEs and GP Surgeries and if you want any advice or guidance on the issues raised in this article, please either contact Adrian on 07885 714771 or [email protected]
