Immigration Laws Post-Brexit
No matter the outcome of the deal from Brexit, one thing that is certain is the change to laws pertaining employment of other EU nationals. An implication of the finalisation of Brexit will be the lack of free movement that applied to EU citizenship. However, there is sure to be a regulation that will invalidate the EU status of employment, and they will be treated like every other foreign national. There is at the moment a settled status available to EU citizens already working in the UK. Therefore it is essential that employers educate themselves on the laws and adjust their recruitment process to match as they are sure to be amended.
Executive Payment Report
A rule that is to take effect from the beginning of January 2019 requires that companies with more than 250 employees have to report salary and benefit ratio between employees and employers. While the first report is expected in January 2020, it should cover the financial year of 2019 from January. We recommend that employers within this category start tracking their ratios for the report.
Worker Itemised Pay Statement
Starting from April of 2019, employees will also have the privilege of getting an itemised payment statement. The statement could be in separate figures for different work and pay rates or an aggregate figure.
Gender Gap Report
Similar to ratio gap, public and volunteer and private organisation will be required to publish their percentage of gender pay of the last twelve month from 30th March for public and 5th April for volunteer and private sectors. The report should be published on the
Gov.uk website as well as that of the organisation’s website with a declaration to follow. The declaration isn’t compulsory, but it does help limit any damage to the reputation of the organisation.
Increase in Minimum Wage
The minimum wage national are as follows:
1. £8.21 hourly
2. £7.70 for people aged between 21 and 24.
3. £6.15 for people aged between 18 and 20.
4. £4.35 for people under the age of 18 but legal to work.
It is worth noting that apprenticeship rates will grow to £3.90 and accommodation offset will be at £7.55.
Statutory Family and Sick Rate.
The statutory family rate which covers maternity, adoption, shared parental pay, paternity pay and maternity allowance is expected to grow to £148.68 for 2019. While the sick weekly rate is projected to increase to £94.25 from the 6/04/2019.
Parental Bereavement and Leave
It has been confirmed that a plan has been made which would allow grieving parents to take a leave of absence from work. The proposal which would allow parents to take leave for up to two weeks which can either be split or taken whole will take effect in April 2020. However, we encourage employers to start preparing for this change in the coming year.
Stay Updated.
Because no one can predict the future precisely, every employer should always be on the watch for new changes in the law and how it affects their business.