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The UK Government has been approving a number of employment law changes coming into effect in 2024.
- Statutory rates for the following will be increasing from 1 April 2024:
- National Minimum Wage increases to £11.44 per hour (for those aged 21 and over)
- Development rate increases to £8.60 per hour (for those aged between 18-20)
- Apprenticeship rate increases to £6.40 per hour (for those aged under 19 or over 19 but in the first year of an apprenticeship)
- Statutory rates for the following will be increasing from 6 April 2024
- Statutory sick pay increases to £116.75 per week
- Statutory rates for the following will be increasing from 7 April 2024
- Statutory maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental and parental bereavement rates increase to £184.03 per week
- Additionally, the statutory cap on a week’s pay, when calculating basic awards and statutory redundancy pay, will increase to £700 per week, effective from 6 April 2024.
Please see below the upcoming changes in employment legislation, effective from 6 April 2024:
Flexible Working (Amendments) Legislation 2023
- Becomes a day 1 right to request to work flexibly
- Reduces the time period to respond from 3 months to 2 months
- Increases the number of applications from 1 to 2 per 12 months
- Removes the need for the employee to provide a business case
- Requires the employer to consult with the employee before refusing any request
Carers Leave Regulations 2024
- A day one right to take one weeks unpaid leave, in half days, days or in a block
- In any 12-month rolling period
- To care for, provide support or make arrangements
- For a dependant requiring long -term care
- Notice in writing, should be either double the length of leave requested, or 3 days whichever is less.
Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024
- Allows eligible employees to choose to take their paternity leave in one or two weeks blocks
- Within a year of the birth, or placement of adoption
- Requires 4 weeks notice prior to taking the leave
The Maternity, Adoption and Shared Parental leave (Amendment) regulations 2024
- Protects from discrimination in a redundancy situation, those who announce their pregnancy, and for 18 months following childbirth
- Enhances the automatic unfair dismissal if an employer fails to provide enhanced protections over that protected time period
- Protection is provided effective from 6 April 2024, for those notifying their employer of pregnancy, or anyone whose leave is due to end on or after 6 April 2024
The Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023
- Under the legislation, which came into effect on 1 January 2024, those who work irregular hours, have had the way their holiday entitlement is calculated reformed.
- The provisions on “Rolled Up Holidays Pay” will come into force for new holiday years which start on or after 1 April 2024.
- This means that it now can become lawful to pay rolled up holiday pay, based on the 12.07% calculation (which had been deemed unlawful in the past)
- Please check your contractual terms and conditions before making any changes to the way you pay holiday pay for irregular hours workers/employees
- It remains unlawful to pay rolled up holiday pay for those work fixed hours, on full-year contracts.
Lastly, employers are being urged to remember that the holiday carry over from the Covid pandemic, ends on 31 March 2024. So any unused holiday must be used by the end of March 2024, or it will be lost.
