You may have been reading about the changes to employment law this last week in and amongst the barrage of Brexit news.
If you haven’t been on top of it here is what you need to know so far: –
In November 2016 BEIS launched the Independent Review of Employment Practices in the Modern Economy. This was led by Matthew Taylor
The report, “Good work: the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices” was published on 11 July 2017 and included a long list of recommendations to improve working life and employment rights with an emphasis on vulnerable workers, including agency workers, casual workers and zero-hours workers in the growing “gig economy”.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/good-work-the-taylor-review-of-modern-working-practices
Recommendations covered areas including the tests for employment status, the right to a written statement of terms and itemised payslip, continuity of employment, holiday rights, use of zero-hours contracts, sick pay, information and consultation, and enforcement.
In response to the progress being made in this area we now have The Good Work Plan.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/good-work-plan
This was published on 17 December 2018, encompassing what has been described as “the biggest package of workplace reforms for over 20 years.
The report is separated into three main themes which are;
- fair and decent work;
- clarity for employers and workers; and
- fairer enforcement.
Matters which may affect business and employees alike are the following new proposals:-
- A right to request a more stable and predictable contract for workers.
- A mechanism to make it easier for casual staff to establish continuity of employment.
- A ban on deductions from staff tips.
- New single state enforcement agency.
- Naming of employers who fail to pay tribunal awards.
- Lower thresholds for requesting information and consultation arrangements.
- Employment status tests to be refined after further research; online employment status tool to be developed.
- Improved written statement of terms for all workers, from day one;
- “key facts” statement for agency workers.
- Reference period for holiday pay to be 52 weeks rather than 12.
- State-led enforcement of holiday pay for vulnerable workers.
- Increased penalty for aggravated employment law breach.
Over the next week or so we will aim to take each of these proposed changes in turn in a series of mini updates and we aim to break this down into bitesize pieces for you.
In the meantime have a great Christmas break!