Employment Law

The start of 2024 has been a busy time for new employment Regulations and Acts coming into force, the majority of which relate to further extending family friendly rights within the workplace.

We have set out below a summary of the changes all of which have now come into force. Employers should therefore undertake a review of their corresponding polices as soon as possible to ensure they include the additional rights and responsibilities set out below.

1. The Paternity Leave (Amendments) Regulations 2024.

These Regulations came into force on 8 March 2024 and make the following changes:

• employees can take their two-week paternity leave entitlement as two separate one-week blocks (rather than having to take just one week in total or two consecutive weeks).
• employees can take paternity leave at any time in the 52 weeks after birth (rather than having to take leave in the 56 days following birth).
• employees only need to give 28 days’ notice of their intention to take paternity leave (reduced from the previous position that required notice to be given 15 weeks before the Expected Week of Childbirth (EWC)).

The Regulations are stated to apply in all cases where the EWC is on, or after, 6 April 2024.  

• The Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave and Shared Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024.

These regulations came into force on 6 April 2024 and extend the period of special protection from redundancy for employees who are on maternity leave, adoption leave or those on shared parental leave. They bring the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023 into operation.

Previously, regulation 10 of the Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations 1999 stated that parents on maternity leave, adoption leave or shared parental leave should be offered first refusal of any suitable alternative employment which may be available in a redundancy situation. This protection is, under the Act, extended as follows:

• For maternity – the protected period now covers pregnancy, alongside 18 months from the first day of the estimated week of childbirth. The protected period can be changed to cover 18 months from the exact date of birth if the employee gives the employer notice of this date prior to the end of maternity leave.
• For adoption – the protected period now covers 18 months from placement for adoption.
• For shared parental leave – the protected period now covers 18 months from birth, provided that the parent has taken a period of at least 6 consecutive weeks of shared parental leave. This protection will not apply if the employee is otherwise protected under one of the two points above.

These new rules apply to any pregnancies notified to the employer on or after 6 April 2024 and in respect of the 6-month additional protected period, any maternity leave ending on or after 6 April 2024.

• The Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023.

The new Flexible working Regulations came into force on 6 April 2024.

• The Regulations remove the requirement that an employee must have 26 weeks’ service in order to be able to make a request for flexible working. The change makes the right to request flexible working a Day One right.
• This new right applies to flexible working requests made on or after 6 April 2024.

• Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023

This Act sets out further changes to the rules on flexible working requests and came into force on 6 April 2024. A summary of the changes is:

• Employees can now make two flexible working requests in any 12-month period (previously only one request).
• Requests have to be dealt with by employers within two months of receipt of a request if no extension is agreed (previously employers had three months to deal with a request).
• Employers must consult with an employee before they are able to refuse a request for flexible working.
• In their application, employees will no longer have to explain what effect they believe agreeing to the request would have on an employer and how any such effect might be dealt with.

• New Working Time Regulations to simplify holiday entitlement and holiday pay calculations

For those with flexible working arrangements i.e. irregular or part-year contracts, these Regulations are designed to be helpful in providing greater clarity around holiday pay and accrual.

From 1 January 2024, these Regulations:

• Defined irregular hours workers and part-year workers in relation to the introduction of the holiday entitlement accrual method and rolled-up holiday pay;
• Removed the Working Time (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 which affect the accrual of COVID-19 carryover of leave;
• Maintained the current rates of holiday pay where 4 weeks is paid at normal rate of pay and 1.6 weeks paid at basic rate of pay, whilst retaining the 2 distinct pots of leave; and
• Defined what is considered ‘normal remuneration’ in relation to the 4 weeks of statutory annual leave.

The following reforms also apply to leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024:

• They set out a method to calculate statutory holiday entitlement for irregular hours and part-year workers;
• They also set out a method to work out how much leave an irregular hour or part-year worker has accrued when they take maternity or family related leave or are off sick; and
• They also allow rolled-up holiday pay as an alternative method to calculate holiday pay for irregular hours workers and part-year workers.

If our employment law specialists can assist with any queries on these latest changes or with drafting policy updates, then do not hesitate to get in touch with us at hello@dixcartuk.co.uk and we would be more than happy to help.

Employment Law

This month we bring you some technical cases looking at the circumstances in which a dismissal could be fair despite a full lack of process because of the actions of the disgruntled employee. Uber Eats has been found to have some bugs in its facial recognition software which has caused it to be seemingly discriminatory, a warning to employers using AI. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has made a declaration of incompatibility between Trade Union law and the European Convention of Human Rights, as it appears to be lacking protection for people lawfully striking other than protection from dismissal. Read on for more details.

• Unfair Dismissal: ‘Rare and unusual’ dismissal fair despite no written warning or appeal
• Racial Discrimination: Uber Eats courier receives financial settlement following alleged discriminatory facial recognition checks
• Trade Unions: Incompatibility of Trade Union Act v Rights to Strike under ECHR

Unfair Dismissal: ‘Rare and unusual’ dismissal fair despite no written warning or appeal

In Matthews v CGI IT UK Ltd [2024] EAT 38, the EAT held that an IT consulting business was right to fire a director without warning after their professional relationship irretrievably broke down, and made even the right to appeal a ‘futile’ exercise.

The EAT concluded that Guy Matthews was not victimised or unfairly dismissed because he gave his bosses little option but to fire him following months of attempts to keep him on, even as he continuously accused a manager of undermining him without proof.

‘This is an unusual and rare case where a dismissal has been found to be fair when there has been no written warning and no offer of an appeal. …They made clear factual findings and were entitled to conclude that this was such a rare case’, Judge Susan Walker wrote for the three-person panel.

Matthews started working at CGI, an IT and business consulting services company, in May 2017. He later became a director and consulting expert on a team specialising in 5G technology, working under Steve Evans. However, around May or June 2020, CGI decided to cut short its 5G pursuits and started a redundancy process, meaning Matthews’ job was at risk, the judgment said. Matthews’ relationship with Evans then began to strain. He believed that Evans was scapegoating him for the failed 5G venture, and had used him as a cover to make another colleague redundant, so Matthews submitted a complaint, the judgment said.

An internal team upheld part of Matthews’ grievance, finding that the company had placed ‘undue weight’ on his 5G experience when it decided his role was at risk when he had several other skills. However, the reviewer dismissed Matthew’s other allegations against Evans, noting that there was nothing to back it up. Matthews then accused the reviewer of incompetence and threatened to submit more grievances against Evans.

By this point, CGI had abandoned the redundancy process, and in November 2020 Matthews began a phased return to work after being sick for some time, the judgment said. CGI gave Matthews the option of remaining on the current team and reporting to Evans, or to try and take on an equivalent role on another team. But Matthews didn’t agree with either, and later in December 2020 rejected another offer. By February 2021, CGI had dismissed Matthews, citing an irretrievable breakdown in the professional relationship.

The EAT concurred with the earlier tribunal’s reasoning and conclusions. Although CGI initially made a mistake in the redundancy procedure, the company genuinely and persistently tried to find a reasonable solution to keep Matthews on but got rejected at every turn, the panel said. And there was no indication that Matthews was willing to make concessions or offer another proposal, given his conviction that Evans should be punished.

The Employment Tribunal had correctly considered whether CGI should have taken less extreme steps. But giving Matthews a warning would have ‘most likely generated a further escalation’, and mediation and the right to appeal would have been futile, too, because of Matthews’ stance that CGI needed to accept wrongdoing on Evans’ part, the judgment said.

Moreover, the panel stressed that the previous judge had not, in fact, applied the wrong legal test for victimisation. Matthews had argued that the judge wrongly used the test for automatic unfair dismissal—weighing whether his protected disclosures were the principal reason for getting the boot, rather than considering whether the whistleblowing complaints had a ‘material influence’ on his dismissal, the judgment says. However, Walker J said it was ‘quite clear that the correct test was applied, and the Employment Tribunal did not apply a test of what was the ‘principal reason’ for dismissal. The quote relied on by the claimant is in a different part of the judgment dealing with other complaints’.

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Racial Discrimination: Uber Eats courier receives financial settlement following alleged discriminatory facial recognition checks

In Manjang v Uber Eats UK Ltd and others (ET Case No 3206212/2021), the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has announced that Uber Eats driver, Pa Edrissa Manjang, has received a financial settlement, following allegations that facial recognition checks required to access his work app were racially discriminatory, which led to him being unable to access the Uber Eats app to secure work.

In 2021, Mr Manjang was removed from the platform following a failed recognition check and subsequent automated process. He was told by Uber Eats that they had found ‘continued mismatches’ in the photos he had submitted to access the platform. The EHRC and the App Drivers and Couriers Union, both concerned by the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automated processes in this case, helped with funding.

Baroness Kishwer Falkner, Chairwoman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said:

“AI is complex, and presents unique challenges for employers, lawyers and regulators. It is important to understand that as AI usage increases, the technology can lead to discrimination and human rights abuses.

We are particularly concerned that Mr Manjang was not made aware that his account was in the process of deactivation, nor provided any clear and effective route to challenge the technology. More needs to be done to ensure employers are transparent and open with their workforces about when and how they use AI.”

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Trade Unions: Incompatibility of Trade Union Act v Rights to Strike under ECHR

In Secretary of State for Business and Trade v Mercer  [2024] UKSC 12, the appellant, Ms Mercer, was employed as a support worker in the care sector by a care services provider, Alternative Futures Group Ltd (“AFG”). As a workplace representative of UNISON, she was involved in planning and took part in lawful strike action. She was subsequently suspended by AFG. While suspended, Ms Mercer received normal pay but was unable to earn pay for the overtime she would otherwise have worked. Ms Mercer brought a claim against AFG under section 146 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULRCA) that she had suffered detrimental treatment done for the sole or main purpose of preventing or deterring her from taking part in the activities of an independent trade union “at an appropriate time” or penalising her for having done so.

By agreement between the parties, the Employment Tribunal determined as a preliminary issue whether, in light of articles 10 (Freedom of expression) and 11 (Freedom of assembly and association) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), section 146 of TULRCA protected workers from detriment short of dismissal for participation in lawful industrial action as a member of an independent trade union. The Employment Tribunal held that it did not. However, the Employment Appeal Tribunal allowed Ms Mercer’s appeal and held that it could be interpreted as doing so. The Court of Appeal allowed a further appeal by the intervener, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, holding that section 146 could not be interpreted compatibly with article 10 of the Convention but refused to make a declaration of incompatibility. Ms Mercer then appealed to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court, in allowing in part the appellant employee’s appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) that although section 14 of TULRCA could not be interpreted compatibly with article 10 of the ECHR a declaration of incompatibility was refused on the basis that there was a lacuna (gap) in the law rather than a specific statutory provision which had been incompatible. It therefore held that that section was the only route that could be available to the appellant to vindicate her article 11 right in the domestic courts or tribunals.

However, that route was blocked by the conventional interpretation given to section 146 of the TULRCA. That was what was inherently objectionable in the terms of section 146 as it stood and that meant that section 146 was incompatible with article 11 of the ECHR. Accordingly, a declaration was made under section 4 of the Human Rights Act 1998 that section 146 of TULRCA was incompatible with article 11, insofar as it failed to provide any protection against sanctions short of dismissal, intended to deter or penalise trade union members from taking part in lawful strike action organised by their trade union.

The Supreme Court unanimously allowed the appeal to the extent that it makes a declaration that section 146 TULRCA is incompatible with article 11 of the ECHR.

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Further Information:

If you would like any additional information, please contact Anne-Marie Pavitt or Sophie Banks on: hello@dixcartuk.com

Employment Law

With the new tax year comes plenty of changes to make yourself aware of. We have a whole raft of key employment changes such as to rates of statutory pay and leave, including a new system of working out holiday entitlement for irregular and part-year workers. There are new toolkits and guidance in relation to Requests for Flexible Working, Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination and how to use AI in recruitment processes. Lastly, there’s something for everyone with the launch of the Environment Agency’s new Portal to report wrong doing for water company employees. Afterall, it’s April showers time!

• New Law: Summary of Key Employment Law Changes from April 2024
• Holiday Entitlement: Changes from April for Irregular Hours Workers and Part-year Workers
• ACAS: Revised Code of Practice on Requests for Flexible Working Published
• Discrimination: EHRC Publishes Updates to Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination Toolkits
• Recruitment: DSIT Publishes Guidance on Responsible Use of AI in Recruitment
• Whistleblowing: The Environment Agency Launches Portal for its Workers to Report Wrongdoing

New Law: Summary of Key Employment Law Changes from April 2024

The following changes took effect from 1 April 2024:

• changes to the calculation of holiday pay for irregular hours workers and part-year workers;
• the national living wage and national minimum wage annual increase;
• removal of the exemption for live-in domestic workers (e.g. nannies and au pairs) from the national minimum wage; and
• minimum rates of remuneration for agricultural workers in Wales increase.

The following changes took effect from 6 April 2024:

• the right to request flexible working becomes a day one right and changes to requests for flexible working, including a revised ACAS Code of Practice;
• changes to paternity leave and pay;
• introduction of carer’s leave;
• extension of existing requirements that apply to employers when redundancy situations arise where an employee is on maternity, adoption or shared parental leave, so that those requirements can also apply during pregnancy and for a period of time after that leave has ended;
• amendments to employment tribunal rules on responses;
• increases to the tribunal compensation limits;
• increases to the Vento bands for making awards for injury to feelings;
• increase to the rate of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP);
• the weekly earnings limits and thresholds, used for determining liability to Class 1 NICs remain unchanged, including the lower earnings limit of £123 per week, below which employees are not entitled to SSP, Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP), Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP), Statutory Shared Parental Pay (SSPP) or Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP);
• reduction in the Class 1 NIC main primary percentage from 10% to 8%;
• extension for a further year of the employer NICs relief for employers hiring qualifying veterans;
• a freeze to the rates of Van Benefit and Car and Van Fuel Benefit;
• increases to the threshold and rate for high income child benefit charge;
• the lifetime allowance on tax-relieved pensions savings is replaced with a lump sum allowance and a lump sum and death benefit allowance.

The following changes took effect from 7 April 2024:

• the rates of SMP, SPP, SAP, SSPP and SPBP are increased.

The following changes took effect from 8 April 2024:

• the rate of maternity allowance (MA) is increased.

For some of the most common rates see our Employment Law Facts and Figures 2024.

Changes to Rights to Leave from 6 April:

Changes have been made by the Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024, SI 2024/329 and the Statutory Paternity Pay (Amendment) Regulations 2024, SI 2024/121 to the statutory right to paternity leave and pay, where the expected week of childbirth begins after 6 April 2024 or, in the case of adoption, the expected date of placement is on or after that date. The main changes are that:

• the two-week paternity leave entitlement can be taken in two non-consecutive blocks of one week, rather than just as a block of either one week or two weeks, and
• leave can be taken at any time in the first year after birth or placement for adoption, rather than just in the first eight weeks.

The Employment Rights Act 1996, ss 80J-80N and the Carer’s Leave Regulations 2024, SI 2024/251, give eligible employees the ‘day one’ right to unpaid time off to provide or arrange care for a dependant with a long-term care need. Carers may take up to one week of unpaid leave in a 12-month rolling period.

Enhanced protection from redundancy is available to employees during pregnancy, maternity leave, adoption leave and shared parental leave, and for an additional period after those types of statutory family-related leave.

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Holiday Entitlement: Changes from April for Irregular hours workers and part-year workers

For leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, the Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023 (Amendment Regulations 2023), SI 2023/1426 amended the Working Time Regulations 1998, SI 1998/1833 to introduce (among other things) different provisions for calculating holiday entitlement and pay in respect of irregular hours workers and part-year workers.

In summary:

• a different method for calculating how much holiday entitlement has been accrued, namely it is at 12.07% of the hours worked in the pay period;
• there is just one pot of holiday entitlement, rather than the usual distinction for other workers, i.e. the four weeks’ basic entitlement and 1.6 weeks’ additional entitlement. This has implications for how much leave can potentially be carried-over and which payments are to be taken into account when calculating holiday pay.
• the employer has the option of paying rolled-up holiday (which it is not able to do in respect of other workers).

The main reason for these amendments was to reverse the effect of the Supreme Court decision in Harpur Trust v Brazel, which had resulted in some anomalies whereby part-year or irregular hours workers could end up with a more generous paid holiday entitlement than a year-round worker with normal hours who worked more hours over the year. A consultation was carried out by BEIS in January 2023 in order to simplify the assessment procedure, and this is the result.

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ACAS: Revised Code of Practice on Requests for Flexible Working published

On 6 April 2024 the revised Code of Practice on requests for flexible working (SI 2024/429), which has been issued by Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) under section 199 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, came into effect.

It provides that the revised Code of Practice does not apply to applications for flexible working made under the Employment Rights Act 1996, s 80F which are made on or before 5 April 2024 except that any such application will be taken into account in determining whether an employee is prevented from making an application by section 80F(4) of that Act.

From 6 April 2024, the statutory right to request flexible working is amended so that:

• employees have the right to make a flexible working request from the first day of employment, thereby removing the need for any qualifying period of service
• employees may make two flexible working requests, rather than one, during any period of 12 months
• employees no longer have to explain the effect of the proposed change on the employer’s business as part of their request
• the employer must consult the employee before deciding not to accept a request
• the decision period for an employer to respond to a request for flexible working is reduced from three, to two, months

See the revised ACAS Code of Practice on Flexible Working here. This replaces the previous version which was published in June 2014.

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Discrimination: EHRC Publishes Updates to Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination Toolkits

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published updates to its guidance on pregnancy and maternity discrimination at work. The changes to the various toolkits have been made to reflect a number of changes which have come into effect in April 2024.

The changes to the toolkits include:

• the extension of protection from redundancy to include pregnant women and those on maternity, adoption and shared parental leave;
• offering suitable alternative employment to pregnant women and those on maternity, adoption and shared parental leave in a redundancy situation, including giving priority over other employees regarding alternative roles;
• providing the right to request flexible working from the first day of employment;
• increasing flexibility in how paternity leave can be taken.

See these links for more information:

• Maternity, paternity, adoption or shared parental leave and pay
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Pregnancy, adoption and maternity: Return to work

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Recruitment: DSIT publishes guidance on responsible use of AI in recruitment

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) have published ‘Responsible AI in Recruitment’ guidance. It centres on ensuring good practice for the procurement and deployment of AI systems for HR and recruitment. It specifically focuses on technologies used in the hiring process, such as sourcing, screening, interview and selection. AI can automate and simplify these processes. However, it also highlights risks such as perpetuating existing biases, digital exclusion, and discriminatory job advertising and targeting.

Read the full guidance here.

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Whistleblowing: The Environment Agency launches portal for its workers to report wrongdoing

The Environment Agency (EA) has launched a whistleblowing portal, allowing water industry workers to report serious environmental wrongdoing by their water companies. Internal water company whistleblowers are encouraged to alert the EA to any concerns, which will then be assessed by the regulator’s expert intelligence teams. Reporters’ identities will be protected and treated as confidential sources. The portal builds on the whistleblowing reports that the EA can already receive under the Prescribed Persons (Reports on Disclosures of Information) Regulations 2017, SI 2017/507.

Guidance on the portal can be found here.

EA employees can email reports to whistleblowing@environment-agency.gov.uk. Non-employees of the EA can send reports by mailing raiseaconcern@environment-agency.gov.uk.

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Further Information:

If you would like any additional information, please contact Anne-Marie Pavitt or Sophie Banks on: hello@dixcartuk.com

Employment Law

We set out below a handy reminder of the issues, obligations and requirements that you need to consider when employing individuals in England for the first time.

Check your business is ready to take on employees

Make sure that your workplace is safe and accessible for employees. All employers have a duty to provide a safe working environment. The Health and Safety Executive website provides a wealth of guidance to assist you in this area Health and safety basics for your business (hse.gov.uk)

Register as an employer and set up PAYE

You will need to register as an employer with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) before your employee’s first payday. Do bear in mind that it can take up to 15 working days to get your employer PAYE reference number. You may choose to engage a payroll providers who can do this on your behalf. Payroll providers can also offer additional support such as providing payslips and calculating holiday entitlements so you should consider if you want or need these extra services or would rather deal with these inhouse.

Obtain Employers’ Liability insurance

All employers must have Employers’ Liability (EL) insurance cover for at least £5 million (from an authorised insurer) as soon as staff are employed. EL insurance will help an employer pay compensation if an employee is injured or becomes ill because of the work they do for you.  

Check your employer’s pension obligations

All eligible job holders are entitled to a workplace pension scheme so you need to be aware of your automatic enrolment duties as an employer. Your legal duties begin on the day your first member of staff starts work, and even if you think you will not need to put your staff into a pension scheme, you will still have certain duties you must comply with. A qualified pensions adviser can advise you on complying with such duties. More information can be obtained from The Pensions Regulator Workplace pensions law – auto enrolment | The Pensions Regulator

Recruitment

You may need to advertise the role and interview candidates or instruct a recruitment agency to assist you with this process. You must ensure you avoid any kind of discrimination during the recruitment process and make sure your application and interview process is accessible for employees with disabilities. Consider whether any offer of employment will be conditional upon e.g. reference checks or proof of certain qualifications.

Checking a job applicant’s right to work

You must check that a job applicant is allowed to work for you in the UK before you employ them. Checking a job applicant’s right to work – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

If the potential employee says they have the right to work in the UK you must verify this by either checking their right to work online (if they have given you their share code), checking certain specific original documents or using an identity service provider that offers Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT). You could face a civil penalty if you employ an illegal worker and have not carried out a correct right to work check.

If the employee does not have the right to work in the UK they may still be able to work in the UK on a short or long-term basis with a work visa, and specialist Immigration Law advice should be obtained on this issue if applicable. We can provide such immigration advice.

Check if you need to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check

You may wish to know whether a prospective employee has a criminal record and this can done for any employee via a basic DBS check. However, taking into consideration data protection rules, you should first consider whether a basic DBS check is really necessary for the type of role the individual performs and should certainly not have a blanket policy where DBS checks are used for all candidates. Enhanced “standard disclosure” checks are obligatory in certain roles which involve a high degree of trust and security, such as those who work with vulnerable adults or children. You are required to carry out an enhanced check on a candidate if the relevant role is listed in what is known as the “Exceptions Order” and also the Police Act 1997 (Criminal Records) regulations.

Decide how much you will pay the employee and how you will run your payroll

The rate of pay or salary will of course depend on factors such as the role the employee will be undertaking, their level of experience and/or knowledge and the typical salary expected in your industry. You must ensure the proposed pay complies with National Minimum Wage requirements which can vary depending on the employees age and the type of work they will be carrying out for you. You could either use payroll software to run your own payroll or instruct a payroll provider to do it for you. Specialist tax advisers can provide advice on National Minimum Wage, Income tax and National Insurance issues.

Prepare a Contract of Employment

Employees are legally entitled to a written statement setting out certain prescribed particulars of employment on or before their first day of employment. Some of the prescribed particulars must be included in a single document and the rest can be given in instalments, not later than two months after the beginning of the employment. Employers often put most or all of the required information into a single document, being the contract of employment. This contract is essential to give details of all the terms and conditions that will apply to the employment.  Careful thought should be given to whether any additional terms should also be included, such as, requirement to undertake a probationary period, whether you will pay enhanced company sick pay and whether you want the right to place employees on garden leave, or pay them in lieu of notice at the end of employment. Such additional protections are not automatically included in a standard statement of employment. If you want these useful additional protections do get in touch and we can talk through your requirements and prepare a bespoke employment contract for your new recruits. 

Prepare Employee Policies

Large employers often include a wide variety of employee policies in an Employee Handbook whereas those with fewer staff may prefer to prepare standalone policies covering the basic legal requirements. At minimum an employer should provide employees with access to:

• a grievance procedure and a disciplinary procedure;
• a health and safety policy which sets out your general approach to health and safety (this must be a written policy for those with five or more employees).
• an employee privacy notice –  employers are required to provide employees with specific information about the processing of their personal data to comply with data protection legislation.

Tell HMRC about your new employee

Before you pay your new starter you must register your employee with HMRC using a Full Payment Submission.

If you’re looking to recruit for the first time why don’t you give our Employment team a call?

Dixcart Legal Limited  – November 2023

Dixcart UK has an experienced team of specialist accountants, lawyers, tax and immigration advisers who can advise on all aspects of employing people in the UK. Please get in touch for further details on hello@dixcart.com