Important Employment Law Changes for April 2020

April 2020 will see a number of employment law changes for HR professionals to get to grips with. Below, we discuss the key changes coming into effect over the next year.

Contracts of Employment Changes

From 6 April 2020 all new employees, as well as workers, will have the right to a statement of written particulars and this must be provided on the first day of employment (not the current requirement of within 8 weeks of starting employment).

The following information must now also be included:

• The days of the week the worker is required to work; whether the working hours may be variable and how any variation will be determined;
• Any paid leave entitlement;
• Details of all remuneration and benefits;
• Any probationary period;
• Any training entitlement provided by the employer, including whether any training is mandatory and/or must be paid for by the worker.

Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay

New Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay regulations, known as Jack’s Law in memory of Jack Herd, whose mother campaigned on the issue, will also come into force on 6 April 2020.

What leave can be taken?

Parents who lose a child under 18 are entitled to 2 weeks’ statutory leave. This can be taken either as a single block of 2 weeks or as 2 separate blocks of one week taken at different times across the first year after the child’s death. This means parents can take the leave at the times they need it most, such as in the early days or over the first anniversary.

Who is eligible?

The right to parental bereavement leave applies to all employed parents who lose a child under 18 or suffer a stillbirth (from 24 weeks of pregnancy), irrespective of how long they have been with their employer.

Is the leave paid?

Parents with at least 26 weeks’ continuous service with their employer and weekly average earnings over the lower-earning limit will also be entitled to statutory parental bereavement pay, paid at the statutory rate of £151.20 per week, or 90% of the average weekly earnings where this is lower.

National Minimum Wage and state pension

The government announced from April 2020 that the official minimum wage will be increasing to the following:

If you are aged over 25, the current hourly rate is £8.21 and will increase to £8.72 from April 2020.
If you are aged 21 – 24, it will increase from £7.70 to £8.20
If you are aged 18 – 20, it will increase from £6.15 to £6.45
For under 18s, it will increase from £4.35 to £4.55
If you are an apprentice, it will increase from £3.90 to £4.15

The state pension age is also due to reach 66 in October 2020.

Holiday pay reference period

Finally, from 6 April 2020 the reference period over which average pay is calculated for the purpose of holiday pay will be increased from 12 weeks to 52 weeks. This is hoped to provide a figure more reflective of average earnings and help workers in seasonal or atypical roles.

Between now and April is a key time to be updating contracts and policies in light of the above forthcoming changes.

Thank you to CG Professional for writing this guest post for us. If you have knowledge of HR or employment law and you would like to feature on our blog and newsletter, please get in touch at [email protected]

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