The Good Work Plan: upcoming Employment Law changes for 2020 and beyond

At present, employers have to provide a written statement setting out the basic terms of employment to all employees whose employment lasts for one month or more, and this must be provided within two months of the start of their employment. Under new legislation, this statement must be given by day 1 of their employment. In another significant change, the right to a written statement of particulars has been extended to include workers as well as employees. In addition to who the statements need to be given to and when, the legislation also requires additional information to be given, including:

• The days of the week the employee is expected to work
• Whether days or hours are variable and if so, the basis on which they will be determined
• All benefits provided by the employer
• Probationary period details including conditions for passing and duration
• Details of training entitlement, mandatory training etc. (including mandatory training which is not funded by the employer)
These measures will come into force on 6 April 2020. We'll be letting current Citation Clients know how these changes will be incorporated into their documentation shortly.

Currently, the holiday pay of a worker who has irregular working hours is calculated by averaging the number of hours worked over the previous 12 weeks (known as ‘the pay reference period’). Under the new regulations, from 6 April 2020, the pay reference period will be 52 weeks or, for those workers who have been working for less than 52 weeks, the total number of weeks they have worked. This change is designed to avoid workers losing out where their working hours are subject to fluctuations such as seasonal variations.

Currently, agency workers are entitled to be paid the same rates as permanent employees after 12 weeks, unless they are working under specific contractual arrangements under which they receive a minimum level of pay when they are between assignments (this is known as the ‘Swedish derogation’ model). From April 2020, this distinction will be abolished and the right to comparable pay will apply to all agency workers after 12 weeks. The government has also introduced an obligation to provide agency workers with a Key Facts page providing basic information about their contract, pay rates and pay arrangements.

At the moment, a gap of one week or more is sufficient to break continuity of service (except for various situations where legislation dictates that continuity is preserved for a longer period such as redundancy and incapacity dismissals). The government has committed to increasing the gap required to break continuity of service to four weeks, making it easier for employees with irregular working patterns to accumulate continuity of service.

The government has committed to introducing a right for all employees and workers to request a more stable working pattern (subject to having acquired at least 26 weeks’ service).

The proposals under consideration include establishing a right to reasonable notice of working hours, the right not to suffer any detriment for refusing work offered as unreasonable notice and the right to compensation when shifts are cancelled without reasonable notice.

The government is considering proposals to establish a single labour enforcement body and extending current state enforcement measures to include holiday pay for vulnerable workers.

This consultation includes a wide range of measures to reduce ill-health related job losses including the right for non-disabled employees to request workplace modifications, a review of statutory sick pay, automatic reporting of sickness absence to the government through payroll and co-funding of occupational health services for SMEs.