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“New Year.. New Start… AGAIN!”

By Niamh Kelly

2020-02-03

We are now in February, and many of the good intentions of the New Year have long gone. To be honest, deciding you were going to have a healthy start to 2020 while you were still eating your own body weight in chocolate and Christmas leftovers, was a waste of time - wasn’t it?! So, why not hit the reset button and have another go at some New Year resolutions, but this time for your business.

From an HR point of view, 2020 is all about the 4 ‘P’s’:

Paperwork – get your contracts done!

The essential elements of the written statement of particulars of employment for employees (or what is more commonly known as ‘the contract’) are set out in the Employment Rights Act 1996, as amended by the Employment Act 2002. From April 2020, both workers and employees will be entitled to receive written particulars from day one of their contract, rather than just ‘employees within 8 weeks of starting’ as at present.

Some information must be included in one document while other information can be delivered in instalments.

You need to have the following things in the main document:

names of the employer and employee
date when employment began
date on which the employee’s continuous employment began
scale or rate of pay and how it’s calculated
when it’s going to be paid and how (e.g. weekly, monthly via BACs)
hours of work, including normal working hours
entitlement to holidays and whether this includes public holidays
job title or a brief description of the type of work the employee is employed to do
place of work or an indication that you expect them to work in various locations

You can then provide other information in instalments - including what to do around absence due to ill health and sick pay; pensions; notice (both sides); whether it’s permanent or fixed term (and if so, for how long) and whether there are any collective agreements. (We would always recommend including these in the main document as they can easily be missed)

Policies and Procedures – have you got the following?

While the Employment Rights Act 1996 states certain items that must be included in the written statement of particulars (contracts), you can refer your employees to your employee handbook for other policies.

If you don’t have an employee handbook, then make sure you have a process around Disciplinary and Grievance rules and procedures; and I would also recommend a Data Protection policy applicable to employees and contractors.

Pay – it’s going up!

April 2020 is going to be a busy month for employers as it marks the change over to new National Living Wage (paid to those aged 25 and over) and National Minimum Wage rates.

These changes aren’t just for employees in full time work with you, but also apprentices (but be careful here, as some apprentices are entitled to the full National Living Wage).

So watch out for any new hires who are joining you after April 2020 as their ‘written statement of terms and conditions’ (contract) will need to include the new rates.. which are.. https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates

Year	25 and over	21 to 24	18 to 20	Under 18	Apprentice
April 2019 (current rate)	£8.21	£7.70	£6.15	£4.35	£3.90
April 2020	£8.72	£8.20	£6.45	£4.55	£4.15

And of course, if you’re employing someone, between the ages of 22 and state pension age; and they’re earning more than £10k per annum.. then they will need to be enrolled in a Workplace Pension Scheme.

You can find out more here: https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/employers/new-employers

Passports – Brexit hasn’t gone away!

The UK left the EU at the end of January 2020 with an agreement to work on a deal… but deal or no deal there will be no change to the right to work of EU, EEA and Swiss citizens and their family members living in the UK until at least 31^st December 2020. We understand there will be a new immigration system for people arriving on or after January 2021 and that retrospective checks won’t be required.

None of this changes the fact that that the law currently requires you to check a job applicant’s right to work in the UK. You have a duty not to discriminate against non-UK nationals (whether from the EU or not) and so you should be checking the right to work of all applicants.

You could face a civil penalty of up to £20,000 for each illegal worker and potentially go to jail. so check out the website https://www.gov.uk/check-job-applicant-right-to-work

Get those 4 things done now and you’ll enjoy the rest of 2020!

About the author:

© Níamh Kelly – Director of The HR Dept Shropshire – is an award-winning HR professional with over 25 years HR experience at a Senior level in the corporate, public and voluntary sector. Working with SMEs across the County, The HR Dept – Shropshire has rapidly developed a very strong client base of local companies. So, if you have a question about Recruitment & Right to Work; to Resolving Problems; to Redundancy… she’s here to help you!