Insights

The EAT ruled that reassigning an employee while investigating a complaint against him was not victimisation, as the move stemmed from the complaint itself, not any protected act.

The government has launched a consultation on how the Fair Work Agency (FWA) will enforce statutory holiday pay from 2027. The proposals signal a significant shift away from relying solely on individual tribunal claims and towards a more proactive enforcement regime.

In a fact-specific decision, the EAT has confirmed that a dismissal for threatening and intimidating messages posted in a union WhatsApp group during industrial action was not automatically unfair. 

The Court of Appeal has confirmed that businesses will not usually be vicariously liable for the wrongful acts of workers employed by a genuine independent contractor. Liability is more likely to arise only where the business has assumed day-to-day control over the contractor's staff.

On 19 June 2026, Section 164A of the Data Protection Act 2018 introduced a formalised framework for how organisations, including schools, must handle data protection complaints. While the statutory requirements themselves are relatively procedural in nature, their interaction with existing school complaints frameworks, particularly the ISSR Part 7 parental complaints procedure, raises important practical questions.

In this article, we set out our view on how academies can most effectively manage these overlapping regimes, ensuring compliance while preserving fairness and operational efficiency.

The Fair Work Agency launched in April 2026 with a strong early focus on National Minimum Wage enforcement. Schools should take this opportunity to review their pay practices, working hours, and deductions to reduce the risk of non-compliance.