The Government has confirmed how they intend to deal with various retained EU employment law issues, including:
- There will be an introduction of “rolled-up” holiday pay, which enables workers who work irregular hours or part time hours to receive enhancements to their regular pay (instead of being paid when they take the leave);
- There will not be an introduction of a single annual leave entitlement (i.e. incorporating both the 4 weeks basic annual leave and the 1.6 weeks additional leave together). This means that workers will continue to receive 4 weeks at the normal rate of pay and 1.6 weeks at the basic rate of pay;
- The Government is also considering “more fundamental reforms to the rate of holiday pay” (although it is unclear at this stage, what these reforms will be);
- The introduction of the annual leave accrual method (from 1 January 2024) to be calculated at 12.07% of hours worked in a pay period for irregular hours workers and part-year workers. Hopefully this should not cause too much upset as this is the method which is already widely used (despite Harpur Trust)
- The restating of various pieces of retained EU case law, including the carry-over of annual leave when a worker is unable to take their leave due to maternity/family related leave or sick leave;
- The changing of record keeping requirements under the Working Time Regulations. This will state that businesses do not have to keep a record of workers’ daily working hours. There was talk of employers needing to record the duration of time worked every single day for each worker (rather than ensuring proportionate general records in the context of a given workplace and working patterns). Thankfully, this has not been implemented; and
- In relation to TUPE transfers, businesses with fewer than 50 employees will be permitted to consult directly with employees (rather than needing to appoint employee representatives with whom to consult).
It is useful to get some clarification on points which have been the subject of consultation; in particular, the requirement being removed on a TUPE transfer for employee representatives to be appointed (where there are not already representatives in place) for businesses with fewer than 50 employees will likely be a welcome change in preventing unnecessary administration for small employees, where in a lot of cases, the employees would prefer to be consulted with directly in any event.
If you do have any queries about the upcoming changes or how these may affect your business, please get in contact with one of our employment solicitors.