Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay
The Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018 came into force in April 2020.
It will give all employed parents the right to 2 weeks’ leave if they lose a child under the age of 18 or suffer a stillbirth from 24 weeks of pregnancy. Parents will also be able to claim pay for this period, subject to meeting eligibility criteria.
Prior to the Act, surprisingly, mourning the recent loss of a child did not mean that an employer is automatically obligated to permit the parent to have authorised absence from work.
Employers should consider changes to handbooks and or family friendly policies. Please get in touch for further information as well as how to introduce new terms.
Changes to holiday pay calculations
From 6th April 2020, The Employment Rights (Employment Particulars and Paid Annual Leave) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 will extend the reference period to calculate a ‘week’s pay’ for holiday pay purposes from the previous 12 weeks of work to the previous 52 weeks.
This is a big change to how this has been calculated previously. We are recommending that you review the impact of this on your organisation and prepare for the impact on your payroll.
Changes to written statements of employment particulars
The Employment Rights (Employment Particulars and Paid Annual Leave) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 will amend how and when written statements of employment should be issued.
1. All workers employed on or after 6th April 2020 will be entitled to a written statement of terms and conditions from day one of their employment. Previously, employers had 8 weeks before issuing contracts.
2. All workers and employees have the right to a written statement from day one of employment – agency workers, zero hours workers, casual workers
3. There is additional information that written statements will need to contain, including:
The hours and days of the week the worker/employee is required to work, whether they may be varied and how
Entitlements to any paid leave (including parental, maternity, paternity leave)
Any other benefits not covered elsewhere in the written statement for example, car park, gym membership, discounts to perks
Details of any probationary period
Details of training provided by the employer.
The following must also be provided, either in the Statement of Terms or separately:
the amount of sick pay (company and / or statutory)
pension arrangements (if it’s a statutory pension scheme like a workplace pension, the pension provider can provide the information)
the notice period either side must give when employment ends
how long the job is expected to last (if its temporary or fixed term) and an end date if applicable
any terms and conditions that apply to other employees too (known as ‘collective agreements’)
disciplinary procedures
grievance procedures ie the process for resolving a problem at work, including how to raise a grievance / complaint
if the employee will work abroad, any terms that apply
If you are expecting to be recruiting new staff in the future, and would like advice and or support in making these changes, please get in touch
We look forward to saying “hello”