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Changes in employment legislation

At Search, we believe it's important for our consultants to remain up to date with the changes in employment legislation that affect our industry. Here are a summary of legislative changes in 2010/2011:

National Minimum Wage (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2010 came into force - 1 January 2011

Travel to a temporary workplace and related subsistence costs can no longer form part of employees' pay for national minimum wage purposes.

New tribunal award limits came into force - 1 February 2011

Increase in unfair dismissal award from £65,300 to £68,400.

Maximum amount of a week's pay for the purpose of calculating a statutory redundancy payment and the basic and additional awards for unfair dismissal increases from £380 to £400.

Additional paternity leave and pay came into force - 3 April 2011

Employees who are fathers, or spouses or partners of mothers, and employees who have been matched for adoption and are spouses or partners of the person taking adoption leave, are entitled to take additional paternity leave of up to 26 weeks in the first year of their child's life or the first year after the child's placement for adoption, and may be entitled to additional paternity pay.

Statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay increased - 3 April 2011

The standard rate of statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay increases from £124.88 to £128.73.

Single equality duty introduced - 5 April 2011

Codes of practice on Equality Act 2010 came into force - 6 April 2011

Positive action provisions of the Equality Act came into force - 6 April 2011

Annual limit on economic migration to the UK came into force - 6 April 2011

Employers will be required to apply for a certificate of sponsorship for a specific post if they wish to bring someone to the UK. Tier 2 (general) is open only to migrants performing jobs at graduate level and Tier 1 is restricted to all but entrepreneurs, investors and the exceptionally talented. The minimum salary for individuals who wish to enter the UK under the intra-company transfer route for more than 12 months is £40,000, but there is no limit on the number of migrants in this category.

Statutory sick pay increased - 6 April 2011

The standard rate of statutory sick pay increases from £79.15 to £81.60 per week.

Default retirement age abolished - 6 April 2011

Employers are prohibited from issuing new notifications of retirement using the default retirement age and the statutory retirement procedure is abolished. Employers that wish to prescribe a compulsory retirement age may do so only if it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. Employers may no longer prohibit job applicants from applying for a job if they are aged 65 or over, or are within six months of the age of 65. However, employers may limit access to group-risk insured benefits to people aged under 65.

Increase in national insurance thresholds and contributions for employers - 6 April 2011

Employers' national insurance contributions increase by 1%.

Equality Act 2010 (Guidance on the Definition of Disability) Appointed Day Order 2011 comes into force - 1 May 2011

The order brings into force guidance, issued by the Office For Disability Issues, on matters to be taken into account in determining questions relating to the definition of disability.

Bribery offences introduced - 1 July 2011

The Act introduces a corporate offence of failure to prevent bribery by persons working on behalf of a business. A business has a defence if it has adequate procedures in place to prevent bribery. The penalty is an unlimited fine. For individuals, it will be a criminal offence to give, promise or offer a bribe and to request, agree to receive or accept a bribe.

In addition to this, the following legislative changes will start to affect our industry over the coming months:

Equal treatment for agency workers - 1 October 2011

The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 (SI 2010/93) give agency workers the same basic employment conditions after 12 weeks in a given job as if they had been employed directly by the end-user.

National minimum wage increases to £6.08 per hour - 1 October 2011

The main rate of the national minimum wage rises from £5.93 to £6.08 per hour. The development rate increases from £4.92 to £4.98 per hour, the rate for workers aged 16 to 17 from £3.64 to £3.68 per hour, and the apprentice rate from £2.50 to £2.60 per hour.

Parental leave increases from three to four months - 8 March 2012

The minimum parental leave following the birth or adoption of a child increases from three to four months. Member states have until 8 March 2012 to bring this into force.

Vetting and barring scheme introduced - To be confirmed

A scaled-back vetting and barring scheme for individuals working with children and vulnerable adults is introduced.

Personal Accounts scheme starts up under Pensions Act 2008 - October 2012

Employers must enrol automatically all eligible employees not already participating in a workplace pension scheme into the employer's pension scheme or the new personal accounts scheme under the National Employment Savings Trust pension scheme. Employers are not required to automatically enrol individuals employed for under 12 weeks.