Latest Legislation

By March 2013

The permitted period of parental leave following the birth or adoption of a child will increases from three to four months. At least one of the four months will not be transferable between parents.

6 April 2012

The maximum amount of a Deposit Order, which a tribunal can order a party to pay as a condition to continuing with Employment Tribunal claims, increased from £500 to £1,000.

The maximum amount of an order to pay costs to another party, which a tribunal may award in favour of a legally represented party, increased from £10,000 to £20,000.

Other changes in relation to Employment Tribunal procedures include

• Witness statements will no longer be read aloud by the witness, and are instead to be taken as read, unless the tribunal directs otherwise.
• Tribunals will have the power to direct that the parties themselves are responsible for paying witnesses' expenses and that the party who loses the case should reimburse the successful party for any such expenses already paid out.
• Employment judges will hear unfair dismissal cases alone in the Employment Tribunal and at the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT), unless they direct otherwise

6 April 2012

The income tax personal allowance increased by £630 to £8,105.

The higher income tax rate threshold of 40% was reduced to £34,371 from £35,001.

New rates of statutory payments as follows:

• Redundancy from £400 to £430 effective 1 Feb 2012
• Statutory guarantee pay from £22.20 to £23.50 effective 1 Feb 2012
• SMP, SAP and SPP rates increased from  £128.73 to £135.34 effective 9 Apr 2012
• SSP increased from £81.60 to £85.85 effective 9 Apr 2012
• Lower earnings limit was £102 currently £107
• Unfair dismissal awards as at 1 Feb 2012 Compensatory - £72,300, Max Basic Award - £12,900

6 April 2012

The lower earnings limit for primary Class 1 national insurance contributions increased from £102 to £107. The rates of Class 2 and Class 3 contributions also increased.

6 April 2012

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (SI 1995/3163) (RIDDOR) was amended to increase the  required period of incapacity following an injury caused by an accident at work, which triggers the employer's obligation to report the accident to the enforcing authority, from “more than three days” to “more than seven days”

The deadline by which the employer must report the accident also increased from ten days to fifteen days.

6 April 2012

The qualifying period for employees to bring a claim of unfair dismissal increased from one year to two years. The new qualifying period will only apply to those employees who started a new job on or after 6 April 2012.

9 April 2012

The basic state pension increased from £102.15 to £107.45 per week.

National Minimum Wage rates are below (effective 1 Oct 2012):

• 21 and over £6.19
• 18 - 20 years £4.98
• 16 - 17 years £3.68

Apprentices £2.65 applies for apprentices under 19 or 19 and over and in the first year of the apprenticeship.

The Pensions Act 2008 takes forward the remaining provisions in the 2006 White Paper concerning automatic enrolment into workplace pensions schemes.

Following a review of the provisions, the Coalition Government announced on 27 October 2010 that automatic enrolment in pension schemes will be staged according to the size of the employer between 2012 and September 2016. The main proposals are:

• the earnings threshold that employees will be automatically enrolled into a pension will be aligned with the income tax personal allowance,
• eligible employees must be aged between 22 and state pension age,
• employers will be require to enrol employees into either personal accounts scheme (renamed NEST) or their own qualifying pension scheme,
• employees must be automatically enrolled before they can opt out,
• there will be an optional three month waiting period before an employees needs to be automatically enrolled into a pension scheme,
• employers will be required to make minimum pension contributions for employees, which will be phased in from 1% in 2012 to 3% by 2017.,
• very small employers will not be exempt.

1 October 2012

The Pensions Act 2008 provides that employers must auto-enrol all eligible employees not already participating in a workplace pension scheme into a qualifying pension scheme. The Act also introduced the concept of "prohibited recruitment conduct", which prohibits employers from making recruitment decisions on the basis of whether or not an individual intends to opt out of automatic enrolment.

1 July 2012

These Regulations set out the practical arrangements that employers must make for an individual to become an active member of a qualifying scheme, including the time limits for achieving active membership. They also confirm the arrangements for postponing automatic enrolment for up to three months and the process for an individual to opt out of pension saving.

The registration and compliance rules confirm the detail that employers must provide to the Pensions Regulator, and the records that employers must keep, including what action they have taken to meet their duties. The Regulations also provide enforcement details, including the rate of interest that may apply where the correct contributions have not been paid and the penalties that may apply where employers have failed to meet requirements.

Early 2013

The results of Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks will be available online to enable employers to check if any new information has been added since the check was first made. Employees will therefore not have to obtain a new check each time they start a new job.

Early 2013

All young people in England will be required to participate in education or training until the age of 17. This will increase to 18 years in 2015.

By December 2013

Employees who wish to bring an employment tribunal claim against their employer will be are required to pay a fee (yet to be decided) at the outset. The fee will be recoverable only if the claim is successful.

Date to be confirmed

Potential claimants will be required in the first instance to lodge their proposed employment tribunal claim with ACAS who will then offer the parties the opportunity to engage in conciliation. Where the parties refuse to engage in conciliation, or where conciliation is attempted but is unsuccessful, the claim will proceed through the normal Tribunal processess.

Date to be confirmed

Employment tribunals will have the power to apply a financial penalty against employers that are breach the employment rights of their employees. The amount of the penalty is currently expected to be based on the amount of the award that the tribunal makes, with a minimum of £100 and a maximum of £5,000, to be applied at the Tribunal’s discretion. Employers will qualify for a reduction if they pay the penalty within 21 days.

2015

All young people in England will be required to participate in education or training until the age of 18.

2015

The right to request flexible working will be extended to all employees.

2015

Changes are made to maternity and paternity leave to give parents more flexibility as to when they take time off. It is expected that the changes will allow both parents to take leave at the same time, instead of the mother having to have returned to work before the father can take additional paternity leave, and allow parents to take time off in blocks, rather than all in one go.

November 2018

The state pension age for women is to be the same as the state pension age for men.

October 2020

The state pension age will increase from 65 to 66 years to reflect the ageing nature of the population.

Between 2026 and 2028

The state pension age for men and women will increase to 67 with effect from a date to be decided between April 2026 and April 2028.

Between 2044 and 2046

The state pension age for men and women will increase to 68.with effect from a date to be decided between April 2044 and April 2046.