What can businesses expect from employment law changes during 2012

2012 will bring with it some important changes in employment legislation. It is important to stay updated on what is happening, when it is happening and how it may affect your business – as inevitably it will.

Important key changes which will take place over the next few months are as follows-

Award limits and payments under employment legislation (including statutory redundancy pay) increase from 1 February 2012

The maximum amount of a week’s pay used to calculate statutory redundancy pay and awards for unfair dismissal increases from £400 to £430. The maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal is also increased to £72,300. The daily rate for guarantee payments made when an employer is unable to provide work in accordance with an employee’s contract of employment is also increased to £23.50 per day for up to 5 workless days.

Parental Leave is extended from 8 March 2012

Currently eligible employees have the right to take up to 13 weeks unpaid parental leave during the first 5 years of their child’s life or, in the case of an adopted child, up to the 5^th anniversary of the adoption or the child’s 18^th birthday – whichever is sooner. This is set to be extended from 13 weeks to four months.

Statutory maternity, paternity, adoption and sick pay increases from 1 April 2012

Statutory maternity pay, paternity pay, adoption pay and additional paternity pay rates will increase from a weekly rate of £128.73 to £135.45 per week. In addition the weekly rate of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) increases from £81.60 to £85.85

Changes to the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims increases from 6 April 2012

Currently in order for an employee to bring a claim for unfair dismissal in an employment tribunal they must have been employed for a period of 1 year. The qualifying period will double and therefore employees will only be able to pursue claims for unfair dismissal after a 2 year period of employment.

Proposals on shaking up employment law..

Trying to help the small business owner has been on the agenda recently for the Government.The Business Secretary, Vince Cable announced that they want to reduce the costs of Employment Tribunals and ease the burden of employment law for small businesses

The Government believes that the proposals will help businesses expand by taking on new employees whilst cutting unnecessary bureaucracy when staff have to be let go.

The Business Secretary confirmed that from April 2012, the qualifying period in order to bring a claim for unfair dismissal will increase from 1 year to 2 year’s service.

Following consultation the Government is also considering a requirement that all employment dispute claims are to be dealt with by the conciliation service ACAS to give each party the opportunity to resolve the dispute before reaching an employment tribunal.

There were also other issues that the Business Secretary stated the Government will seek views on. These include:

* No fault dismissals for businesses with fewer than 10 employees allowing the business to dismiss employees without being taken to a tribunal if they pay a compensation payment.

* Allowing employers to have ‘protected conversations’ with employees about poor performance knowing that the discussion cannot then be quoted during an employment tribunal.

* Simplifying the current dismissal processes.

* Introducing fees to lodge employment tribunal claims

Winter challenges for your business ……. and solutions to help you cope with them …..

The winter months can bring many challenges for businesses, relating to staff. There is likely to be an increase in staff absence due to minor illnesses such as colds and flu and potentially absence caused by extreme weather conditions, as we experienced over the past couple of years.

Staff absences cost the UK economy billions of pounds every year, and for small businesses it is the inconvenience and additional workload that causes the most disruption and pressure.

The starting point for any business is to ensure it has measures in place to control absence levels and fair policies and procedures to deal with any occurrences. The rules should be communicated to all employees and managers should be trained in how to implement them, to ensure consistency.

Here are some top tips on how you can effectively control sickness absence levels

· Develop a simple and understandable procedure for controlling sickness absence.

· Ensure the procedures include reporting procedures, sick pay rules and any triggers for sanctions.

· Train managers to conduct return to work interviews without delay upon the employee’s return, to identify underlying reasons for the absence and communicate that the business is concerned about them.

· Adopt consistent practices throughout the business to enhance healthy working environment and encourage a culture of attendance.

Tips on how you can deal with absence caused by extreme weather conditions or disruptions to public transport

Regardless of weather conditions or other disruptions, it is your employees’ responsibility to get to work. If they are unable to attend work in these circumstances, you are under no obligation to pay them. The exception to this is if there is a contractual obligation on you to provide transport for your employees, to and from their place of work.

A policy on how to deal with these unusual situations is advisable, to ensure that all staff know who to report to if they are unable to get to work, and also what options are available to them.

If your employees cannot get into work by their normal mode of transport, you should first encourage your employees to explore alternative means of safe transport. If this is not possible then consider whether working from home is a viable option until the weather situation improves.

If neither of these are viable options, then you need to ensure that employees know that any time off work in these circumstances will be unpaid. The final option is that employees can request to take the time off as paid annual leave.

Different rules would apply if you chose to close the business due to the severe weather conditions and your employees were ready and able to attend work. If this were to happen then normal wages should be paid unless you have a contractual provision which allows you to consider this period an unpaid lay off period.

Preventing workplace stress

A report recently published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development confirms that stress has become the most common reason for long term absence. This highlights the need for businesses to adopt a greater understanding about the causes of work related stress and how being proactive when managing stress will benefit your workforce and your business.

Under current health and safety legislation, employers have responsibility for the health and safety of employees at work and should undertake stress risk assessments

It is normal to expect that employees will be able to cope with the normal pressures of work which can actually energise and motivate staff. It is when the pressure turns extreme and employees are no longer able to cope with the situation that stress can occur.

The Health and Safety Executive identifies and recommends that in order to manage and prevent work-related stress from happening, you can look at the following six areas:

• Demands

• Control

• Support

• Relationships

• Role

• Change

These six areas will help address issues such as workloads and the work environment along with having systems and support in place to help individuals. Positive working relationships should be promoted along with ensuring individuals understand their role and how it fits within the wider organisation. Finally, individuals should be communicated with regularly to ensure they are fully aware of any organisational changes.

Whilst it is inevitable that every organisation is different, these six areas of management standards represent a set of conditions which will reflect a high level of well being and organisational performance.

Work related stress resulting in long term absence will ultimately be costly for a business so investing time in looking at prevention will ultimately be beneficial to both the health of your business and the health of your employees.

How do you ensure the highest standards of service, quality and efficiency within your organisation

Regular review and feedback of employees’ performance is critical to ensure the highest standards of service, quality, efficiency and teamwork are maintained in the organisation. On a practical level this is something managers and supervisors do informally on a day-to-day basis – monitoring employees’ work and providing guidance and direction on improving standards.

It is also important that employees receive formal reviews of their work. The benefits of formal reviews and appraisals include:

• They motivate employees by giving positive and constructive feedback and listening to their contributions. Motivated employees are more loyal, committed and productive


• They help to make the employee feel engaged in the organisation by involving them in discussion about what is going on and how their work contributes to it


• They improve standards by clearly showing employees where their work is or is not meeting the required standard and take action to correct any anomalies


• They identify training needs to improve standards, knowledge and this improves efficiency and productivity


• They help identify talent and skills needs within the organisation for future planning purposes


• They provide positive two-way communication between the employee and the organisation that promotes team working, productivity and commitment

Claim up to £1000 funding from the Government

Have you got ambitious plans to grow your business and have the potential for high or fast growth? If so, and you are a business leader there is now a great opportunity for you to develop your leadership and management skills.

This new service, run through Skills South East, will help you to identify your personal development needs and find you a training solution to suit your individual needs

There is up to £1,000 available in grant funding to help pay for the training solution - this grant will pay for 50% of the fees up to the maximum amount of £1000

To be eligible you must be a private sector business and have at least one full time equivalent employee in addition to the applicant and fewer than 250 full time equivalent employees. You must also be able to display the potential for high or fast growth defined as –

* If trading for more than 12 months have the potential to increase turnover by 20% each year for three years

* If trading for less than 12 months have the potential to achieve a turnover of £500,000 within three years of starting trading<

Visit our website for further information about the funding, to download an application form and find a training solution tailored to your needs. If you have any questions about this funding or would like help with completing the application process, please call us on: 023 8023 4222.

Are you considering employing young workers over the school holidays?

If you are considering employing school age children or young workers over the holiday period then there are different restrictions applying to both categories.

In law, a "child" is a person who is not over "compulsory school age"; who has not yet lawfully left school. Most local authority by-laws prohibit the employment of school age children in occupations such as hotel kitchens, fish and chip shops and restaurants. I would urge you to contact your local education authority to see if your business would be prohibited from employing school age children.

The employment of school age children is regulated and under the legislation:

No child may be employed if they are under the age of 14

They may not be employed for more than 35 hours (or, if under 15, for more than 25 hours) in any one week where the child is not required to attend school

They cannot be employed before 7.00 am or after 7.00 pm

They may not be employed for more than eight hours (or, if under 15, for more than five hours) on any day or for more than two hours on a Sunday

They must receive a rest break lasting at least one hour if they work for more than four consecutive hours

Note; these apply when the child is not required to attend school, such as during school holiday periods. Please be aware that the restrictions differ during term time.

Before employing a school age child you must apply to the relevant local education authority for an Employment Certificate.

Young workers are those who are over the minimum school leaving age but have not yet reached the age of 18. You must ensure that young workers receive a 30 minute rest period if they are required to work over 4 and half hours in any one shift and also when assessing any risks to health and safety take into account lack of experience, lack of awareness of risk and lack of maturity.