You may, or may not, have heard of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 but what do we know about the aims of the Act?
According to the government website the aim of the Act is to cut the cost of doing business and to help create jobs in the private sector. How does this Act affect you as a small to medium business owner?
The Act is quite broad ranging making provisions on the UK Green Investment Bank, establishing and making provisions on Competition and Markets Authority, getting rid of the Competition Commission and the Office of Fair Trading and addressing copyright issues, performance rights and payments to Company Directors to name a few.
For JDS HR Limited we are more interested in the (hopeful) reduction in employment legislation burden. For example parts of the Act will:
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improve the Employment Tribunal system, for example by early conciliation;
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change compromise agreements to settlement agreements;
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impose a financial penalty against an employer of up to 50% of award given, if there are aggravating factors;
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impose deposit orders, where a judge believes there is a weak claim;
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changing Whistleblowing to a disclosure in the public interest, rather than 'good faith'; and
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removing 3rd party harassment from the Equality Act,
If you require any further information on the above please do not hesitate to contact us. We like to hear from you.