Employment Law – 2024 Updates

April 2024 saw a substantial wave of changes sweeping across various areas of employment regulations, impacting everything from statutory pay rates to leave entitlements and wage brackets.

As your trusted partners, it’s imperative that we keep you informed and equipped with the latest knowledge to ensure compliance and foster a thriving workplace environment. In this section of our client newsletter, we’ll review the key amendments, ensuring you’re well-prepared for the changes to employment law from April 2024.

Statutory Pay Rates: encompassing shared parental, maternity, adoption, paternity, and parental bereavement, has been revised to £184.03 per week (or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings whichever is lower).

Statutory Sick Pay: Is now payable at the rate of £116.75 per week.

The Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations: Have removed the 26-week service prerequisite for employees to seek flexible working.

The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act: Has introduced the following where a flexible working request was made after 6^th April 2024:

• Introduced the requirement to consult on alternatives before refusing a request.
• Two requests in a 12-month period are now permitted.
• The time limit to deal with a flexible working request is now two months.

The Carer’s Leave Regulations 2024: Employees now have a statutory right to unpaid carers leave.

The Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave, and Shared Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024: Have extended redundancy protection to cover during pregnancy and for 18 months post-birth or placement for individuals returning from maternity, adoption, or shared parental leave.

The Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024: have brought substantial modifications to paternity leave, permitting it to be taken within the first 52 weeks post-birth or adoption, with options for two separate weeks, one singular week, or two consecutive weeks together.

These regulations apply to children anticipated to be born after 6^th April, 2024, and children expected to be placed for adoption, or arrive in Great Britain for adoption, on or after 6^th April 2024.

National Living Wage: The age bracket for the National Living Wage has been broadened to encompass individuals aged 21 and above.

National Living Wage & National Minimum Wage:The rates for both the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage have seen increments:

• The National Living Wage for individuals aged 21 or above is now £11.44 per hour.
• The National Minimum Wage for individuals aged 18–20 is now £8.60 per hour.
• The rate for young workers aged 16–17 is now £6.40 per hour.
• The apprentice rate for apprentices under 19, or over 19 in the initial year of their apprenticeship, is now £6.40 per hour.

Holiday Entitlement: Commencing with holiday years post this date, holiday entitlement for part-year and variable hours employees can be computed by taking 12.07% of the hours worked in the pay period.

Holiday Pay: Rolled-up holiday pay is now permissible for holiday years commencing on or after this date, applicable solely to part-year and variable hours workers. This is when the worker is paid their holiday pay at 12.07% of the hours worked within the pay period.

As there’s been a significant number of changes to Employment Law in April 2024, we want to emphasise that our team is here to support you every step of the way.

Should you require further clarification or have any questions regarding the amendments discussed, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us in the usual ways.

Additionally, we’re thrilled to offer our clients the opportunity to seamlessly integrate our suite of 2024 compliant HR Policies into their Breathe HR System, along with updated contracts of employment. To learn more about this included service and how it can benefit your company, please contact a member of our team.