Category: News
8 May 2023 – additional bank holiday.
There is to be an additional bank holiday on Monday 8 May following the Coronation of King Charles III on Saturday 6 May. Whether your staff are entitled to paid leave on this date will depend on how your holiday entitlement terms are written in the contract of employment. If, as in the case of the terms we provide to clients, the wording is that holiday entitlement (e.g. 28 days) is inclusive of public holidays then there is no automatic right for employees to take the day as an extra paid day. Employers can decide how they want to treat that day. If, on the other hand, holiday entitlement is for X days plus public holidays then the staff member would be entitled to take it as paid leave. Please refer to your staff contracts of employment and/or call the office team on 01722 325833 for more advice on how to deal with this additional bank holiday.
National Minimum Wage rates as of 01 April 2023
- Workers aged 23 and over: £10.42 an hour (National Living Wage)
- Workers aged 21-22: £10.18 an hour.
- Development rate for workers aged 18-20: £7.49 an hour.
- Young workers rate for workers aged 16-17: £5.28 an hour.
- Apprentice rate: £5.28 an hour.
Statutory family leave payments [maternity, adoption, paternity, shared parental] and sick pay rises.
Statutory maternity, adoption, paternity, and shared parental pay rises from £156.66 to £172.48 a week from 01 April 2023.
Also from 01 April, statutory sick pay rises from £99.35 to £109.40 pa week.
And what’s in the pipeline . . . .
Requesting predictable working patterns
The government has backed a Bill giving all employees and workers (including agency and zero hours workers) the right to formally request a more stable working pattern. This is still subject to Parliamentary approval. Once approved, the new right will be available to those who:
- Have worked for their employer for 26 weeks (not necessarily continuously)
- Are on work patterns that lack certainty in the hours and time they work
- Are on fixed term contracts of fewer than 12 months’ duration.
Workers will be able to make two requests a year. Employers will be able to refuse requests on specific grounds, such as the additional costs involved or a lack of work at the times requested.
Holiday pay for workers without fixed hours
The government has been consulting on how holiday should be calculated for workers with irregular hours or zero hours contracts.
This follows a recent court case judgement ruling that workers who do not work for some parts of the year should not have those non-working periods included in the holiday reference period. The proposal is to make it fairer, and easier for employers, by legally requiring that non-working weeks should be included in the reference period. The government will be announcing how it will proceed in due course, in the meantime please contact us if you have any questions relating to holiday entitlement.
Flexible working requests to be a day one right.
The government is backing the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill currently going through Parliament which will:
- Make flexible working requests a day one right for employees (thereby removing the current 26 weeks’ service requirement)
- Allow employees to make two requests a year (currently only one request is possible)
- Require employees to consult with the employee before rejecting a request
- Shorten the time employers have to reply to a request from three to two months
- Remove the requirement for employees to set out the likely effects on the business of the change
Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave)
Employees on maternity leave will be entitled to priority for suitable alternative employment in a redundancy situation. This protection will start from when an expectant mother, or those adopting a child or taking shared parental leave, notifies their employer of their pregnancy, match for adoption or intention to take shared parental leave and extends for 18 months from the start of that leave.
The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill
This Bill received government backing in July last year. Once passed, it will allow parents whose babies need hospital neonatal care to take 12 weeks’ paid leave in addition to their statutory maternity or paternity leave. The right will be available from day one of employment, it will apply to parents whose babies are admitted to hospital up to the age of 28 days and will apply to babies who need to stay in hospital for 7 days continuously or more.
If you need further advice regarding these or any other employee matters, please call the office team Monday to Friday 09:00am – 5.30 on Tel: 01722 325833