Important employment law changes from 6 April 2020
Whilst many employers will, understandably, have their minds elsewhere in the current circumstances, we wanted to make sure that important changes in employment law which come into effect in April 2020 didn’t go unnoticed.
Employers have long been required to provide all employees, whose employment is to continue for more than one month, with a written statement of employment particulars (e.g. a contract of employment)
From today (6 April 2020):
- written particulars must be provided to all workers, as well as employees, engaged or employed after today, no matter how long they will be working for, subject to meeting certain eligibility criteria
- most of the details will need to be given in a single statement before the individual starts work (rather than within the first two months, as has been the case until now)
- written terms for all new starters will need to contain additional information about any probationary period, the normal days and hours of work (and any variation to those), overseas work, benefits, rights to paid leave and any compulsory training – where there are no such entitlements the employer will need to make that clear.
We can help you to update your template contracts to make sure they’re legally compliant – please do get in touch.
Calculation of holiday pay
Where workers’ pay varies with the amount or timing of the work they carry out, holiday pay must be calculated based on their average earnings. From today, the look back period increases from 12 weeks to 52 weeks.
Parental bereavement leave
Bereaved parents are now entitled to 2 week’s leave (paid at the statutory rate and subject to certain eligibility criteria ). We can provide wording for a policy for you or additional wording to incorporate into your handbook.
Changes to rates and limits
From 1 April, National Living Wage increased to:
- £8.72 (age 25 and over),
National Minimum Wage increased to:
- £8.20 (ages 21 to 24)
- £6.45 (ages 18 to 20)
- £4.55 (ages 16 to 17)
- £4.15 (apprentices) per hour
Other new legal minimum rates come into force today:
- The prescribed rate for statutory maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental pay and maternity allowance increases to £151.20 per week
- Statutory sick pay increases to £95.85 per week
- The limit on a week’s pay for redundancy pay calculations increases to £538 per week
- The maximum normal award for injury to feelings in discrimination claims increases to £45,000
Download our full rates and limits card here