Post 6th of April 2020 all new starter employees have a day one right to a contract of employment. Previously you had 8 weeks to provide a new starter with a contract. Now it must be given on the first day, if not before.
In addition to the previous Section 1 employment particulars requirements, all statement of terms/contracts of employment must include:
These changes/additional clauses need to be inserted in to the contracts of all employees that start work on, or after 6th April 2020. Anyone exchanged on a contract before 6th February 2020 does not need to be issued with a new contract, compliant with the new requirements, unless the employee/worker asks for an updated and compliant contract, or an event occurs that means a new contract needs to be drawn up, such as a promotion, or change/amendment of terms. This request for an update does not have to be in writing.
From the 6th April 2020 after the 12 week qualifying period an agency worker will be entitled to the same pay as an employee.
Furthermore by 30th April 2020 these workers must receive written confirmation from the agency to confirm the change in salary.
Finally, if an agency worker is engaged after 6th April 2020 then they must be provided with key information setting out their terms of engagement, consideration may also be given to reviewing the status and contracts held by existing agency workers.
As of the 6th April 2020 the holiday pay reference period is expanded from 12 weeks to 52 weeks.
To be clear an employer will not count any weeks where the employee/worker did not work/get paid, only counting 52 weeks of work/receiving pay.
The employer will then average out the pay.
This calculation needs to be completed every period of annual leave.
This is a new statutory leave provision introduced as of 6th April 2020, and now needs to be included in all new contracts of employment.
The statutory entitlement is 2 weeks paid leave following the loss of a child under the age of 18, or a still birth after 24 weeks of pregnancy. The leave can be taken in 1 block or broken down into 2 lots of 1 weeks bereavement leave. The full entitlement must be taken with 56 days of the death of the child.
This leave is in addition of any other statutory or discretionary leave available to the employee such as sick leave or compassionate leave.
If the bereaved individual has been employed for 26 weeks continuous service, and earns on average £120 p/w before tax, then they will be entitled to Parental Bereavement Pay.
The current rate of Parental Bereavement Pay is whichever is lower of:
The term parent under the legislation has a broad definition. It includes:
Please use this link to download our factsheet, detailing the information above. Further information is available on the .gov website.
If need guidance on how to add this information to your employment contracts or if you would like us to review them for you, email us at membership@fpb.org.
The increase in the National Minimum Wage and Living Wage came into effect on 1st April. If you have employees’ currently on Furlough, these new rates must be applied to their pay. The government will continue to cover 80% of the employee’s total wage, including the new increase.
The full set of rates can be seen below:
Businesses have to pay business rates as a contribution to the cost of services provided by local authorities.
The guide will outline what business rates are and the types of premises on which they are payable. It explains how business rates are calculated and how the rateable value of business premises is determined in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
From the 1st April 2019 Making Tax Digital (MTD) is a key part of the Governments plans to make it easier for individuals and businesses to get their tax right and keep on top of their affairs.
The primary aim of Making Tax Digital is to make the administration of tax effective and easier for taxpayers through the fully digitalised tax system by 2020, which in turn will reduce the overheads for HMRC for managing tax.
HMRC’s ambition is to become one of the most digitally advanced tax administrations in the world. Making Tax Digital is making fundamental changes to the way the tax system works – transforming tax administration.
The changes will apply to a wide range of tax payers including most business, self-employed professionals and landlords.
Find out what is involved in taking on an apprentice, including how to find a scheme and how much to pay apprentices.
To help get you started the Forum of Private Business have put together some of the sources of help and information available to small business when looking to take on an apprentice.