A number of important changes to employment law will take effect as of 1 October 2011. All businesses with a workforce including human resources professionals, business owners as well as line managers will need to beaware of these changes and align their practices accordingly. An insight into the changes is as follows.
Agency workers regulations come into force
The Agency Regulations 2010 coming into force will impact businesses, which employ temporary agency workers. The new Regulations provide agency workers with many more entitlements and give them the same conditions they would receive if they were hired directly by the employing business. Entitlements, which apply from the first day of assignment, include access to the same basic working and employment conditions such as pay, holiday, duration of working time and rest periods.
After 12 weeks on assignment, Agency Workers will also have the right to access facilities offered by the hiring business such as car parking, childcare facilities and various amenities such as canteens.
Extension to Parental Leave
The minimum parental leave following the birth or adoption of a child increases from three to four months. At least one of the four months will not be transferable between parents.
Abolition of Default Retirement Age
The default age for retirement will be abolished. As from October, an employer seeking to retire an employee will have to follow a fair procedure under the ordinary unfair dismissal rules and rely on one of the fair reasons for dismissal. The statutory retirement procedure no longer applies.
Minimum wage increase
Further changes have been made to the minimum wage entitlement, which this year, are as follows.
- Over 21s: increase of 15p (2.5%) to £6.08
-18-20 year-olds: increase of 6p (1.2%) to £4.98
- 16-17 year-olds: increase of 4p (1.1%) to £3.68
- Apprentices: increase of 10p to (4%) £2.60.
As these new developments transpose into law on 1 October 2011, it is essential that businesses be fully prepared to ensure ongoing compliance with UK regulations. Our Employment team are able to advise on what this really means for your business. Further information on the changes can also be found on the government website at: www.direct.gov.uk.
