It's All About People

11th July - 3 minute read

Welcome back

Firstly my apologies for last week, I pressed the wrong button so the email had the wrong title - but at least the content was correct! Daisy Dog is now happy as she has featured in our newsletter - and I am sure it will be the first of many.

This week’s It’s All About People covers:

 🌹 What Labour said in their campaign that they plan for employment law

👩‍⚖️ How quickly this is likely to be confirmed, and then actually happen

📝 The practicalities of what this means for you as an employer

📆 Events this month

🌹 Labour Government Plans for Employment

Firstly let me make it very clear, that this email is to inform and advice - no political opinions from me you’ll be glad to hear.

My goal for this email is to simplify this as much as possible, and hopefully reassure that our team is here to help as plans unfold.

A big part of Labour’s campaign was their “New Deal for Working People” which they launched back in April. In their own words (from their website) they “plan to make work pay will ensure more people stay in work, make work more family-friendly and improve living standards, putting more money in working people’s pockets to spend, boosting economic growth, resilience and conditions for innovation.”

It is predicted that there will be over 60 changes made that as employers we need to adhere to.

In a nutshell, they plan to bring bring in further protection for employees. These are likely to be in the following key areas - and in true HR style, this is not an exhaustive list!

Minimum Wage - no details in terms of figures, but in essence making it more linked to a living wage, removing age brackets and more enforcement.

Flexible Working - making this the default for all roles, unless not possible. So not about making a request any more.

Trade Unions – removing what they consider un-necessary restrictions, but also to work on improving relations so that the number of days lost to strikes is reduced.

Zero-hour contracts – this one we wait to hear on, but the essence being to ban what they call the “exploitative” nature of these. These are not the only contracts that will need reviewing though - and it is likely self-employed contractors will need them too.

End fire and rehire - stopping the practice of sacking and then re-employing people in order to make contractual changes - an example last year was the P&O “situation”.

Day One Rights (not 2 year) - the main area here is in relation to unfair dismissal being a right from day one (currently 2 years).

👩‍⚖️ How quickly this is likely to be confirmed, and then actually happen

A large part of Labour’s campaign in relation to the “New Deal for Working People” was that they would implement changes within 100 days.

17th July is the King’s Speech which is where the plans for legislation are outlined for the coming parliamentary year.

The 100 days is likely to start from there, so 25th October is the date to be aware of - but of course by then you need to be ready for the changes.

📝 The practicalities of what this means for you as an employer

In most cases it looks like you will have at least until 25th October and of course some of it may not happen, or will be delayed. We will know more after 17th July.

We will be keeping you updated, and for our clients we will be advising on and assisting you to make the changes you need to - and on time.

In terms of preparation, I have added some thoughts next to the key areas below, so you can start planning where you need to.

Minimum Wage 

• if for any reason you do not currently pay it - PAY IT, before they start giving more power and resources to those that enforce it.

• be mindful of your budgets, if all the age brackets are taken away, it could mean significant cost increases to wage bills if you currently pay younger workers less

Flexible Working

• no action needed at the moment but perhaps look at how you currently manage requests and how open you (your managers) are to different ways of working

• make sure your current policy is up to date (law changed earlier this year). Of course there is one in our HR Hub for our clients

Trade Unions 

For many of our readers this is not relevant, but for those of you that do recognise and work with Unions, watch this space.

Zero-hour contracts 

• review how often these are used in your organisation (if at all) and why they are used

• look at the average hours worked by those on these contracts, and consider if perhaps a contract with contractual hours is better for both parties

End fire and rehire

We would always only recommend this as a last resort and certainly not something to do without taking our advice, so if you are planning to do this talk to your HR advisors - or call us. 

Day One Rights (not 2 year)

• look at how many dismissals occur in your organisation and what length of service those people had, if most are under 2 years then it may be managers are relying on this for “unsafe / unfair” dismissals

• make sure your line managers know how to manage and deal with cases that could end in dismissal e.g. performance, conduct

We’ll be here every step of the way, helping our clients stay compliant and maintaining their employer brand. We will also be doing our best to keep our It’s All About People subscribers up to date and providing advice.

That’s all for this week – have a great week all.

Emma 

P.S. For those of you reading this who are members of our HR Hub then we will be updating relevant documents (policies, guides etc) as the changes unfold - and of course your weekly email from us will explain what they are and where to find them.

 P.P.S.  If you are not a Hub member you can join here for only £45/month for all your HR needs.

P.P.P.S If we have not connected on LinkedIn yet, I would love to connect

Events to Join in July (click on the links to join us)

HR Clinic (free to all, come and ask your HR questions) - July 16th 12pm 

Supporting Mental Health in the Workplace (free session) - 23rd July 12pm 

Menopause Café (free for all to attend, and not just for the ladies!) – 23rd July 12pm 

Excellence Unleashed - Performance Management Masterclass (free to Hub members or £150/place) - 30th July 9.30-12.30pm