Below you will find from the ACAS website the proposed changes to employment law this year and early next year.
If you require any further information on these changes please do contact us for clarity.
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Proposed changes to employment law
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Launch date
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Early conciliation to come into force
From April 2014 before lodging a claim to the Tribunal all claimants will need to notify Acas first, where conciliation will be offered. If conciliation is unsuccessful within the set period the claimant can proceed to lodge a tribunal claim.
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6 April 2014
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Power of Employment Tribunal to impose Financial Penalties on employers
The Employment Tribunal will have the power to order an employer who has lost a case to pay a financial penalty to the Secretary of State of between £100 and £5,000. The penalty will be imposed where the employer has breached any of the workers rights and the breach has one or more aggravating features.
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April 2014
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Statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay increase
The rate of statutory maternity, paternity and adoption rate will increase to £138.18.
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6 April 2014
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Statutory Weeks Redundancy pay
The rate will increase to £464
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6 April 2014
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Changes to Tax and thresholds comes into force
An increase in the income tax personal allowance to £10,000
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6 April 2014
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Flexible working
The Government proposes to extend the right to request flexible working to all employees and remove the current statutory procedure for considering requests. Instead employers will have a duty to consider all requests in a reasonable manner; employers will have the right to refuse requests on business grounds.
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Spring 2014
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Managing sickness absence
A health and work assessment and advisory service is to be introduced, offering fee occupational health assistance for employees, employers and GPs. The service can provide an occupational health assessment after four weeks of sickness absence.
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Spring 2014 (to be confirmed)
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Flexible parental leave
Under this new system parents will be able to choose how they share the care of their child during the first year after birth. Mothers will still take at least the initial two week following the birth, following that they can choose to end the maternity leave and the parents can opt to share the remaining leave as flexible parental leave. Also under this new shared parental leave it is proposed to allow the husband, civil partner or partner of the pregnant women the right to unpaid time off to attend up to 2 ante-natal appointments.
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2015
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Parental leave extended to 18
The right to unpaid parental leave will be extended to parents of any child under the age of 18 years.
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2015
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Surrogate parents eligible for adoption leave
Provided they meet the eligibility criteria parents who have a child through surrogacy will be permitted to take ordinary paternity leave and pay, adoption leave and pay and shared parental leave and pay. Both parents will also be entitled to take unpaid time off to attend two antenatal appointments with the woman carrying the child.
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2015
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School leaving age to rise to 18
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2015
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