Blog

With the first couple of weeks of 2012 under our belts, the New Year once again heralds more change on the employment law front.

Key changes include:

Increased parental leave from three to four months;
 

• Annual increase to statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay in April to £135.45 per week;
• Qualifying period for employees to bring a claim of unfair dismissal increases from one year to two years
• Amendments to the rules regarding deposit orders, whereby Tribunals may order a party to pay £1,000 (increasing from £500) as a condition of continuing with the litigation;
   
• Automatic enrolment whereby employers must automatically enroll all eligible employees not already participating in a workplace pension scheme into the employer's pension scheme or the National Employment Savings Trust pension scheme. The threshold for automatic enrolment is aligned with the personal allowance for income tax. Employers are not required automatically to enroll individuals employed for under 12 weeks. To encourage participation, employees’ pension contributions will be supplemented by employers' contributions and tax relief.

Against this background of continuous change and in keeping with the best practice approach of prevention rather than cure, it is essential that all organisations irrespective of their size and sector, get up to speed now with the new rules to avoid Employment Tribunal liability. With a view to up-skilling HR professionals and line managers, TSW and Hugh James are launching a series of collaborative training programmes for 2012. The aim is to deliver one interactive and informative workshop every month on a variety of employment and HR-based topics, all of which combined represent an invaluable toolkit for anyone responsible for managing employees. Dates for your diary in the near future include:

• Employment Law Essentials – 9th February 2012
   
• Recruitment – 22nd March 2012
   
• Handling Sensitive Issues – 19th April 2012
   

To book a place, or places, on any of these workshops please contact us by e-mail or give Ian a call on 01656 644300.

Authored by Helen Illes of Hugh James