UK Government policy paper on employment law changes
The UK Government recently released the first in a series of policy papers outlining proposals for various employment law-related changes. A consultation paper has also been released covering some of these proposals. We summarise the key points for employers in this update.
Holiday pay simplification
The outcome of the Government consultation on calculation of holiday pay for casual workers (which closed on 9 March 2023) is still awaited, which set out various options for clarifying the calculation and payment of holiday pay, especially for casual workers (see our update here for more background).
The recent policy paper affirms that the Government is looking to implement a simplified approach to holiday pay calculation, which can only be welcome to employers. Employers may respond to the Government's consultation on this, which is open until 7 July 2023.
Simplifying TUPE
TUPE protects employees when the organisation for which they work transfers to a new owner (or when a service transfers to a new provider).
A proposed minor tweak is to allow businesses to consult directly with employees (rather than via an elected employee representative) where the business is small (<50 people) and the transfer is small (<10 people affected).
No other proposals are made regarding the simplification of TUPE.
Reducing Working Time Regulations reporting burdens
Under retained EU case law, in order to show compliance with the Working Time Regulations, employers need to set up a system to measure the actual daily working time of individual workers.
The Government proposes to remove this requirement for record keeping, as affirmed in the consultation paper.
