Employment & Pensions Blog: 2024 Employment Round-up

2024 is shaping up to be a busy year as a number of employment law changes are coming into force. In this article we briefly explore some of these legal changes.

Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023

In order to reverse a decision which arose as a result of the Harpur Trust v Brazel case, a decision was made to update the Working Time Regulations to simplify holiday pay calculations by making rolled-up holiday pay lawful for part-year workers and those working irregular hours. Part year and irregular hour workers will accrue annual leave at a rate of 12.07% of the number of hours worked in a pay period. 

The reforms will also see changes to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE). Under TUPE, employers are required to inform and consult with representatives of employees affected by the transfer. There is an exception which allows businesses with fewer than 10 employees to consult directly with the affected employees. The Regulations will widen this exception to also include businesses with fewer than 50 employees and transfers where the number of employees being transferred is less than 10. 

These changes are expected to come into force on 1 January 2024.

National Minimum Wage Increases 

From 1 April 2024 the National Minimum Wage is set to increase to £11.44 per hour. The age threshold will also be lowered to workers aged 21 (which was previously 23).

Carer’s Leave Act 2023

From 6 April 2024 employees caring for a dependent with long-term care needs (i.e. more than 3 months) will have a statutory right to 1 week of unpaid carer’s leave per year. 

Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023

Under current legislation employees on maternity leave, shared parental or adoption leave have “priority” over redeployment opportunities in that they have the right to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy, if one is available, before being made redundant. The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023 will extend this priority status to pregnant employees and those who have recently returned from maternity, adoption or shared parental leave. For those returning from maternity, adoption or shared parental leave, this protection will end 18 months from the date or birth or placement. 

This is expected to come into force before 6 April 2024.

Fire and Rehire

In the wake of the mass redundancies (without notice or consultation) at P&O Ferries in March 2022, the Government announced that it would introduce a new Statutory Code of Practice on ‘dismissal and re-engagement’ requiring employers to hold “fair, transparent and meaningful consultations” in circumstances where changes to terms and conditions are proposed by way of implementation by dismissal and re-engagement. 

The Government’s response to the consultation, and the final version of the Statutory Code of Practice, are likely to be published in Spring 2024.

Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023

Employees will soon be able to make 2 flexible working requests (instead of 1) within a 12-month period and employers will be required to consider and provide a reason before rejecting the application. This will also be made a day-one right instead of the current position of requiring 26 weeks of continuous service. 

This is expected to come into force around July 2024.

Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023

The Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 will provide a new statutory right for anyone engaged on a working arrangement that isn’t full time, isn’t open ended and doesn’t feature regular hours, to request a more predictable work pattern. This will cover staff such as agency workers, those on zero hour contracts or contracts that specify core hours which can be varied due to business need. The timescale that will be given to employers for responding to a request for more predictable work patterns will be 1 month. 

This is expected to come into force around September 2024.

Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023

Employers will have a duty to take “reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. A breach of this duty will allow the Employment Tribunal to increase any compensatory award by up to 25%. 

This is expected to come into force around October 2024.

Changes to Paternity Leave

Fathers and partners will be entitled to take their two weeks of paternity leave in 2 separate blocks of 1 week at any time in the first year following childbirth. Fathers and partners will only be required to give their notice of entitlement to take leave 15 weeks before the expected date of childbirth and only 28 days’ notice of the dates that they intend to take each period of leave. 

These changes will be introduced in due course, possibly in or around April 2024.

Comment

Whilst a number of changes are not scheduled to come into force until Spring 2024, it is important for employers to be aware of these upcoming changes so as to forward plan any changes to policies and internal practices required to ensure a smooth transition. We would encourage employers to conduct a  health check of their policies and procedures to ensure that these changes are adequately captured, but also provide some form of “2024 round up” training to staff (including HR and managers) to raise awareness of these upcoming changes. 

If you have any questions on this or would like some advice on any of the upcoming changes, please get in touch with a member of our Employment Team.