Are You Ready for the Employment Law Changes on 6 April 2020?

Employment Contracts for New Starters

• Review and amend contracts of employment to ensure they contain the new information required under Section 1.
  
  
• Review and amend worker contracts to ensure they comply with Section 1.
  
  
• Consider the implications for employees and workers with flexible working patterns.
  
  
• Adapt your HR systems to ensure employees and workers receive their contracts by the first day of work at the latest.

Find out more about the changes to employment contracts.

IR35 in the Private Sector

• Check whether the new regime will apply to your business.
  
  
• Carry out an audit of the consultants you engage - which will be affected by the new regime?
  
  
• Undertake a status determination for each affected consultant.
  
  
• Determine whether new contracts need to be put in place.

Find out more about the changes to the IR35 regime in the private sector.

Holiday Pay

• Identify workers who do not have fixed working hours.
  
  
• Adapt the systems you use for calculating holiday pay for those workers.
  
  
• Retain complete and accessible pay data for a minimum period of two rolling years.

Find out more about holiday pay for those without fixed working hours is changing.

Employee Handbooks

• Determine whether your organisation requires a parental bereavement policy.
  
  
• Decide if your organisation wants to go further than the statutory minimum requirement.
  
  
• Review what policies you have in place for compassionate leave - is this an area that needs a review in general?

Find out more about new entitlement to bereavement leave and pay.

Agency Workers

If you are an organisation that hires agency workers:

• Audit your contracts with employment businesses.
  
  
• Supply information about comparable employees for any agency worker formerly subject to the Swedish derogation.

If you are an employment business:

• In respect of the Swedish derogation:
  - notify affected workers by 30 April
  - obtain information about comparable employees for those workers.
  - review contracts with clients - do the commercial terms need re-visiting?
  
  
• Prepare a standard key information document for new workers engaged from 6 April 2020.

Find out more about the changes affecting agency workers and key information documents.

Termination Payments

• Put in place systems to calculate the correct level of national insurance contributions for ex-gratia payments over £30,000.
  
  
• Take into account the extra cost of settlement when making ex-gratia offers in excess of £30,000.

Find out more about how the taxation of termination payments is changing.

If you have any queries in relation to these employment law changes, please contact Michael Halsey in our Employment Law team on 020 7665 0842 or complete the form below.