Employment Law Update – Upcoming Changes in April 2024
At times, it can be difficult to keep up to date with the changes in employment law, so our Employment law experts at Dragon Argent have summarised a few Employment law changes that are expected to come into force in April 2024 and which are important for employers to bear in mind.
Right to request flexible working arrangement – coming into force on 6 April 2024
Employees will now have a day one right to make a request for flexible working (currently employees must have worked for their employer for at least 26 weeks to be entitled to make a flexible working request).
Employees will be entitled to make a maximum of two flexible working applications in a 12-month period (currently employees can only make one request in this period).
Employers must respond within two months of the flexible working request (currently an employer can take up to three months to respond).
Employers will be required to discuss their rationale with the employee before rejecting a flexible working request. Employees will no longer be required to explain any effect the proposed flexible working arrangement change would have on the employer and how that effect might be dealt with.
Holiday entitlement – coming into force 1 April 2024
For fixed hours or pay workers, a day rate for holiday calculations should be an average of total remuneration an employee receives in the last 52 weeks (e.g. salary plus commission or bonus received) divided by total number of working days in a year. Previously a day rate for holiday calculations was calculated using just basic salary divided by total number of working days in a year.
New rules for how irregular-hours workers and part-year workers accrue holiday entitlement has also been introduced. Namely, holiday will accrue at the rate of 12.07% of the hours worked in a pay period.
It will now be lawful to pay the type of workers referenced above, as an alternative method, rolled-up holiday pay at the rate of 12.07% i.e. paying holiday pay as an uplift of 12.07% on top of a worker’s hourly rate instead of paying the worker holiday pay at the time holiday is taken. Currently, it is unlawful to pay rolled-up holiday pay, although many sectors have continued to calculate holiday in this way.
The rolled-up pay must be clearly identified on the worker's payslip and be paid at the same time as their normal pay for work.
These changes will apply for holiday years which begin on or after 1 April 2024. If an employer's leave year is a calendar year (January to December), the rules will not apply until 1 January 2025.
Extension of redundancy protection after employee’s pregnancy or employees returning from family leave – expected to come into force 6 April 2024
Currently, employers are under a duty to offer suitable alternative employment to any employees on maternity, adoption, and shared parental leave who are at risk of redundancy, ahead of any other at-risk employees, if such positions are available i.e. such employees have the right of first refusal.
This requirement is now being extended to pregnant employees and those who have recently returned from a period of family leave within 18 months of their child's birth / placement for adoption.
It is not a ban on placing these employees at risk or making them redundant. However, specific care should be taken to ensure that those on family leave or who have recently returned are scored fairly; otherwise, employers could be at risk of unfair dismissal and discrimination claims.
Leave introduced for employees with caring responsibilities – coming into force 6 April 2024
From 6 April 2024, it will be a right of all employees, with a caring responsibility for a ‘dependant’, to take up to one week's unpaid leave in a 12-month period to provide or arrange care for a ‘dependant’ with a long-term care need (“Carer’s Leave”). The employee will have this right from the first day of their employment.
Carer's Leave will be able to be taken in half, one or multiple day blocks or as a continuous week.
Employees who want to take Carer's Leave must provide notice to their employer which must be the greater of, at least twice the number of days as the period of Carer’s Leave requested, or three days. E.g. if an employee wishes to take two days of Carers Leave, they must give their employer four days’ notice (as this is greater than three days’ notice).
An employer is not permitted to reject a request for Carer's Leave but can postpone it if they reasonably consider that business operations would be unduly disrupted by the employee’s absence. The employer must serve a counter-notice within seven days of the request for Carer’s Leave and the counter-notice must explain the reason for the counter-notice and the revised dates.
The employer will need to consult with the employee and reschedule the Carer’s Leave to commence no later than one month after the earliest day or part day of the employee’s request.
Statutory paternity leave and pay – coming into force 6 April 2024
Fathers and partners will be able to take statutory paternity leave in non-consecutive blocks. Currently, employees are only able to take one block of leave, which can be either be one or two weeks leave. The changes will remove this barrier by enabling fathers to take two separate blocks of one week's leave.
Employees will be able to take statutory paternity leave at any time in the first year of birth / placement for adoption. Currently, employees can only take the leave within the first eight weeks after birth / placement for adoption. This will give fathers and partners more flexibility to take statutory paternity leave at a time that suits their family arrangements.
Though the changes are coming into force from 6 April 2024, employees can start informing their employers from the 8 March 2024 of the dates they are going to take leave for their child born on or after 6 April 2024.
Statutory payments and compensation updates
| Type of payment / Compensation | Current rate | New Rate | Expected date to come into force |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Minimum Wage (NMW) | NMW for ages 16-17 & apprentices under 19: £5.28 | NMW for ages 16-17 & apprentices under 19: £6.40 | 1 April 2024 |
| NMW for ages 18-20: £7.40 | NMW for ages 18-20: £8.60 | ||
| National Living Wage (NLW) | NLW age 23 or above – £10.42. | NLW for workers aged (now) 21 or above: £11.44. | |
| Statutory Sick Pay | £109.40 per week. | £116.75 per week. | 6 April 2024 |
| Statutory maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental and parental bereavement pay | £172.48 per week. | £184.03 per week. | 7 April 2024 |
| Maternity allowance | £172.48 per week. | £184.03 per week. | 8 April 2024 |
| Tribunal compensation awards | The limit on a week's pay, including for calculating statutory redundancy payments or calculating basic or additional awards of compensation for unfair dismissal – £643. | The limit on a week's pay, including for calculating statutory redundancy payments or calculating basic or additional awards of compensation for unfair dismissal – £700. | 6 April 2024 |
| The maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal – £105,707. | The maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal – £115,115. |
As an employer, it is vital to keep up to date on Employment law changes to ensure that you are conducting your business and handling employee relations in a way that is legally compliant.
This update is provided for your information only and is not intended to amount to legal advice.. If you have any questions about the contents of this update, please feel free to contact one of our Employment law experts. We are here to help you.
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