Parental Bereavement Leave
Research suggests that 1 in 10 employees are likely to be affected by the death of a loved one during their employment. In response to this, "Jack’s Law" has been introduced through the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act. This will come into force in April 2020 and now gives employed parents, who have lost a child, the right to take paid statutory leave to allow them time to grieve.
Who is entitled to this leave?
All employees have a ‘day one’ right to this bereavement leave. Parents and primary carers will be entitled to paid bereavement leave if they have been employed for a continuous period of 26 weeks. Female employees who suffer a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy will still be entitled to up to 52 weeks of maternity leave and/or pay, as will a mother who loses a child after it is born.
What is the entitlement?
- Bereaved parents will be entitled to take two weeks’ bereavement leave.
- There are rules around when this leave is available to be used and how it should be taken.
- Paid bereavement leave is paid at the lower of £151.20 a week or 90% of salary. As this is a statutory payment, it is at the employer’s discretion if you wish to top-up this amount.
Employers should now put plans in place to introduce and manage the Parental Bereavement Leave policy. You will need to determine if you will give a top-up payment and the approach you will take to communicating this to your staff.
Other considerations
Different religions have their own bereavement traditions and funeral rites. If you were to refuse an employee to observe their beliefs and customs, it could amount to religious discrimination. Employees who suffer a loss may experience mental health issues such as depression and/or anxiety. This could constitute a disability under the Equality Act. It is advisable to look into further training on the Equality Act to prevent potential issues from religious discrimination or mental health arising.
The Bright Contracts Handbook will be updated shortly to include a new Parental Bereavement Leave Policy.
Minimum Wage Rates Increase from 1st April 2020
It has been announced that on the 1st April 2020 the minimum wage will increase by amounts ranging from 4.6% to 6.5%. The National Minimum Wage (NMW) is the minimum pay per hour that most employees are entitled to by law. An employee's age and if they are an apprentice will determine the rate they will receive.
These rates were recommended to the government by the Low Pay Commission, an independent body that advise on the national minimum wage and living wage. It is estimated that approximately three million workers will see pay increases due to the new rates being introduced. Employees aged 25 and over will see a rise of 51p from £8.21 to £8.72, which will result in an increase of £930 annually.
Please see the current rates and the new rates below:
| Rates from 1 April 2019 are | Rates from 1 April 2020 will be | |
| 25 yrs old and over | £8.21 per hour | £8.72 per hour |
| 21-24 yrs old | £7.70 per hour | £8.20 per hour |
| 18-20 yrs old | £6.15 per hour | £6.45 per hour |
| 16-17 yrs old | £4.35 per hour | £4.55 per hour |
| Apprentices under 19 or 19 or over who are in the first year of apprenticeship |
£3.90 per hour | £4.15 per hour |
It has also been recommended by the Low Pay Commission that the national living wage will be paid to employees aged 21 and over. The National Living Wage is an obligatory minimum wage currently paid to employees aged 25 and over that was introduced in April 2016. The government aims to achieve this recommendation by 2024.
Coming in 2020 - The Good Work Plan
The aim of this plan is to strengthen employment rights and improve working lives for employees in the UK. Changes to existing employment law are coming, while some entirely new entitlements are planned. There is a clear focus by Government now on improving communication and certainty in the working relationship.
We will be looking at this in more detail over the coming months but for now, some points for employers to take note of include:
- Currently, you have 2 months to provide the written particulars of employment to staff. From April 6th, this will change to a “day-one” right instead. This will ensure that both you and your employees (staff and workers) are clear about the main contractual terms from the start of employment. A comprehensive list of terms and conditions must be included in this contract.
- The ‘opt-out’ option for agency workers to receive a guaranteed level of pay between temporary assignments has been removed. They are to receive the same pay as permanent staff after working up 12 weeks service.
- In terms of holidays, the reference period used to calculate holiday pay will be extended from 12 to 52 weeks. This is positive for any of your staff working variable hours. The Government has plans to launch a new holiday entitlement calculator which we are sure will be welcomed by all to correctly determine employees’ holiday entitlement.
As employers, you will need to start planning now for how these changes will impact on you.
New Year, New HR You!
Start 2020 with some HR goals to put you on the front foot. Make your goals achievable and easy and you won’t be one of the 80% of people whose resolutions have fallen by the wayside by February 1st! Consider how technology could help you achieve a leaner you in 2020.
1. Cut out the fat…
Hate all those repetitive admin tasks that keep popping up over and over like manually recording your employees annual leave, amending employees’ personal details, making sure they are receiving and reading important company updates? Well, now is the time to get rid of them. Consider how an online platform could take care of those tasks and many more.
2. Get out and about more…
Manage your HR tasks from almost anywhere by using your Employer Dashboard to monitor your employees annual leave requests, review your payroll reports and keep an eye on your Revenue payments. As long as you have an internet enabled device, it can all be at your fingertips… anytime, anywhere!
3. Communicate better…
Use online document upload features to distribute, track and manage any information you want your staff to have access to. Contracts, policies, training, schedules, you name it. You have the peace of mind of knowing your employees have that information at their fingertips and that you can see a log of when and how often the are accessing it.
4. Face your fears….
GDPR and cyber security. The two scariest words in the English language. Free yourself from that fear with a robust online portal. Fully secure servers, individually password protected and fully GDPR compliant.
