Remember Remember 6 April 2014?
The last couple of years have seen an unprecedented level of changes to employment law including the introduction of fees into the employment tribunal system in July 2013 and the introduction of a new employee shareholder status in September 2013.
2014 is going to be a busy year again and April 2014 certainly seems to be the month to remember.
On 6 April 2014 the main changes were:
- The introduction of ACAS early conciliation (EC). Whilst the scheme comes into force on 6 April 2014, compliance in the EC process (ie the requirement on a claimant to notify ACAS first before lodging a claim) will only be mandatory for claims presented on or after 6 May 2014. At Winston Solicitors we have devised a new service dedicated to helping employers understand the EC process, for more details please follow the link to www.earlyconciliation-advice.co.uk;
- Financial penalties for employers found to have breached a claimant’s employment rights if the tribunal considers that the breach had “one or more aggravating factors” have been introduced;
- There has been an increase in various statutory payments. Statutory Sick Pay has increased from £86.70 to £87.55 and statutory maternity pay, ordinary and additional paternity pay and adoption pay has increased from £136.78 to £138.18 a week.;
- The abolition of statutory discrimination questionnaires under the Equality Act 2010 for discrimination acts occurring on or after 6 Aprili 2014; and
- Employers can no longer claim statutory sick pay (SSP) from the Government. Previously an employer was entitled to reclaim under the Percentage Threshold Scheme any amount of SSP which exceeded 13% of its national insurance contributions in the month.
In relation to the last point and following on from our recent managing sickness absence webinar, it has been announced that the abolition of recoupment of SSP by employers will save the Government approximately £50 million each year.
With this money freed up, the Government are setting up the Health and Work Service. The purpose of this is to provide free occupational health assessments for all employees who are off sick for four weeks or more. Under the proposals there will be a website and a free helpline providing information and advice to people who need it.
It is anticipated that the service should begin towards the end of the year and that it should be fully implemented by this time next year.
The rationale behind this change is to help employers encourage any employees on long term sick back into the workplace.
The Government are hopeful that the new scheme will save employers up to £70 million a year as a result of reduced sickness and related costs. However only time will tell.
Of course, this new scheme can only be effective if the employers are aware of the right questions to ask occupational health and work with them closely to establish a return to work plan. The new occupational health assessments are likely to take place over the telephone and sceptics have argued that this will be a barrier to receiving a personalised, case managed approach to getting people back into work.
If you do have any employees who are currently absent on sick leave please do get in touch with our specialist employment team. It is essential that sickness absence is addressed properly and at an early stage. Our team can talk you through your options and steer you in the right direction.
For further information on the above or any other employment law related query please contact the employment team online or pnone on: 0113 320 5000
