UK Employment Law – 2024 in Review

As 2024 draws to a close, it's a good time to reflect on the year’s most significant changes in employment law. With new rules and new rights, there have been important updates which both employers and employees need to know about. In this post, we will look back at the highlights, giving you a quick refresher on key points for staying compliant and informed.

Flexible Working
In April, the right to request flexible working became a day-one right for all employees. Other updates included: employers being required to consult with employees before rejecting flexible working requests; the deadline for resolving a flexible working application has been updated to two months; and employees now have the right to make two flexible working requests in a year. Acas issued a revised Code of Practice with new guidance reflecting these changes.

Carer’s Leave
Employees have a new right to take up to one week of unpaid carer’s leave every 12 months to provide or arrange for care for a dependant with a long-term care need. This leave can be taken in single or half days.

Paternity Leave
New regulations have given employees the option to take either a one-week or two-week single period of leave, or two non-consecutive periods of leave of one week each. Paternity Leave can now be taken anytime within 52 weeks of the birth. Employees do not have to confirm exact dates until 28 days before the period of Paternity Leave is due to start.

Enhanced Redundancy Protections
Enhanced redundancy protections have been extended for employees taking Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave, and more than six continuous weeks of Shared Parental Leave.

Holiday Pay
New rules on calculating holiday entitlement and an option to pay rolled-up holiday pay came into force for holiday years starting from 1st April 2024. These changes apply to part-year workers and irregular hours workers.

Allocation of tips
New rules have been introduced for tips, deductions, and record-keeping. The requirements are explained in the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 and the Code of Practice on Fair and Transparent Distribution of Tips.

TUPE consultation
Some TUPE consultation requirements, relating to employee representatives, have changed for transfers taking place on or after 1st July 2024.

Dismissal and Re-engagement
A Code of Practice on Dismissal and Re-engagement came into force, containing guidance on dismissal and re-engagement (‘fire and re-hire’) practices.

Sexual Harassment
A new legal duty was introduced for employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment at work. To support understanding of this new responsibility, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published updated guidance for employers.

Conclusion

It has been an extremely significant year for employment law. To support clients as they navigate these changes, Bright Contracts provides a wide variety of resources which can be tailored to specific needs, including template policies and supporting documents.

Visit our website or talk to a member of our team to find out more about the help we can offer you.