As this year draws to a close, HR professionals are getting ready to ensure that their organisations are ready for the new employment laws for 2024. But what does 2024’s updated employment law cover?
From new rights around working hours and flexible working requests to a national minimum wage rise, there are a lot of updates to UK employment laws due in 2024 that you need to be aware of to ensure HR compliance.
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Changes to Annual Leave Calculations, TUPE and Working Time Regulations – Expected January 2024
The first employment law changes expected in 2024 are around how you calculate holiday entitlement, TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment Rights) and working time. From as early as 1st January, you will:
- Be able to use the 12.07% accrual method, or ‘rolled-up holiday pay’, for zero-hour workers or people on part-time contracts who work irregularly
- Be able to consult directly with employees about their employment rights when you undertake a business transfer if there are no existing representatives of trade unions in place – but only if you’re a small business with fewer than 50 employees
- Be able to reduce the amount of detailed records you have to keep of your teams’ daily worked hours to comply with Working Time Regulations
National Minimum Wage Act – Expected April 2024
This is a crucial one. From the new financial year, there are changes to the National Minimum Wage that mean any UK workers aged 21 and over will be entitled to the National Living Wage, the highest rate of pay for this statutory wage.
If your employees are paid at or near minimum wage, make sure you’re ready to pay them the correct hourly wage to prevent hefty compensation payments:
Workers aged 21+: £11.44 (up from £10.42)
Workers aged 18-20: £8.60 (up from £7.49)
Workers aged under 18: £6.40 (up from £5.28)
Apprentices aged under 19, or over 19 and in the first year of their apprenticeship: £6.40 (up from £5.28)
Carer’s Leave Act – Expected April 2024
Expected in April 2024, your employees will have the right to take statutory carer’s leave from their first day. They will qualify if they care for a dependent with a long-term care need, and will be able to take at least a week of unpaid leave every year. It’s yet to be confirmed, but your staff will likely have to give a minimum amount of notice to take the leave.
Plus, come October 2024, there will be a new type of statutory leave for new parents of babies in neonatal care. On top of maternity leave and paternity leave, parents will be able to have up to 12 weeks of neonatal leave from day one of their employment. This leave will be paid at the same rate you would normally pay for maternity or paternity leave.
Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 – Expected April 2024
A key employment law change for those in the hospitality industry, it will be illegal for your company to hold back tips from your staff members. This has been a long time coming – Las Iguanas faced backlash when it transpired that they required their staff to pay 3% of their table earnings.
As well as ensuring that your team keep all their tips, you’ll also need to ensure that:
- Tips are allocated fairly between workers
- You pay all tips no later than the end of the month following the month the customer paid the tip
- You have clear company policies surrounding dealing with tips
- You keep all records for 3 years
Employment Relations Act (Flexible Working) – Expected July 2024
This is a big one that many of your employees could be looking forward to. Currently, employees can make one flexible working request per year, after they’ve worked for you for at least 26 weeks. However, from around July 2024, they will be able to make two requests per year – and it’s expected that they’ll be able to do this from day one of their employment.
Currently, under UK employment law, you have three months to respond to a flexible working request. But from 2024, you’ll have two months – and employees won’t be required to explain what impact granting their request would have on your business.
If you’re worried about offering staff flexible working opportunities due to the Data Protection Act and ensuring you stay compliant, read our guide on HR compliance and general data protection regulation to help you come up with a remote work policy.
New Rights to Request More Predictable Working Patterns – Expected September 2024
A brand new right for some workers, such as agency workers, zero-hour workers and those on fixed-term employment contracts, employees that have irregular working hours will have a right to ask for a more predictable working pattern.
Staff will likely become eligible when they’ve worked for you for 26 weeks, and you’ll have to accept any request unless there are legal issues that allow you to refuse.
A Duty to Prevent Sexual Harassment at Work – Expected October 2024
The new Worker Protection Act is expected to come into force in October 2024 which means that you’ll need to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.
Currently, no employment law states that you must be proactive in preventing harassment, like devising workplace policies or providing training, but from next year your employees will be able to be able to forego your grievance procedures and head straight to the Equality and Human Rights Commission if they don’t think you’ve put preventative measures in place.
The law currently says that if a team member makes a harassment claim, you need to be able to prove that you took steps to prevent it. If you can’t, you’ll probably be liable to pay compensation. The new law simply goes one stage further and says that you must be able to prove that you’ve taken steps to prevent harassment, even if no one makes a claim.
Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023
The final big employment law change is that pregnant staff will have the same extra rights and protection as those on maternity leave.
That means that if you ever had to make redundancies, you’d need to take steps to keep a pregnant staff member before anyone else. If you don’t, you might be subject to an unfair dismissal or discrimination claim, which could lead to you paying uncapped compensation.
Pregnant staff will have this right from the moment they tell you about their pregnancy up until their child is 18 months old. This will also still apply to those returning from maternity, adoption or shared parental leave.
2024 is a big year for UK employment law. Make sure your HR compliance is up to scratch and if you’re unsure about anything, get some employment law advice to help you prepare.
