NewslettersLegal Update - April 2011
Below are a number of regulatory changes, some of which come into force on the 6th April 2011. If you are an existing client of Bibby Consulting & Support you must read the changes below to help you keep abreast of key developments with legislation. We also advise that you circulate this document to any of your management team who are involved in managing employees or Health & Safety issues within your business.
Legal Updates
Legal Update
April 2012
Includes updates on Maternity, Paternity and Adoption pay increases, National Minimum Wage increases and Asbestos Regulation changes
Legal Update
October 2011
Includes updates on the repeal of the Default Retirement Age, National Minimum Wage Increases, RIDDOR amendments and more
Legal Update
January - April 2011
Includes updates on Agency Workers, The Equality Act 2010, Retirement Age Changes, Fire Safety Regulation Amendments and more
Employment Law & Human Resource Updates
Agency Workers Regulations 2010
Regions affected: England, Scotland, Wales
Comes into effect: 1st October 2011
1st October 2011 will see the introduction of the Agency Workers Regulations which look set to provide equal treatment to agency workers when compared to their permanent counterparts. There will be differing rights applicable from day one of the assignment along with further rights to equal treatment after a qualifying period of 12 weeks in respect of pay and hours of work.
Equality Act 2010 – Update
Regions affected: England, Scotland, Wales
Comes into effect: 6th April 2011
It has now been 6 months since the Equality Act 2010 was introduced in October 2010. Despite being originally intended to be introduced in April 2011, the Government has since confirmed that dual discrimination will not be implemented as planned in April, and instead, it will be introduced later along with guidance that will be issued at that time. Also, the controversial pay publishing duties will not be forced onto employers and instead employers are encouraged to voluntarily publish these details. Finally, the positive action provisions are set to come into force in April 2011.
Retirement Age
Regions affected: England, Scotland, Wales
Comes into effect: 6th April 2011
From 6th April 2011, the current default retirement age of 65 will be repealed, as will the associated retirement procedures which many employers have become accustomed to follow. Without a default retirement age, employers face a higher hurdle to overcome if they wish to retire some of their ageing workforce. There are transitional provisions set to be introduced for pending retirements, which allow for some limited retirements after the 6th April 2011, for those who are already aged 65, or who will attain this age on or before 30th September 2011. More details are available from Support Line.
Training Requests
Regions affected: England, Scotland, Wales
Comes into effect: 6th April 2011
Currently, employees of organisations that employ 250 or more staff members have a statutory right to request time off from work for training, which triggers a formal process built around an existing process for an employee’s right to request flexible working. This training right was originally planned to be extended to employees of all organisations from 6th April 2011, but in a recent announcement, the Government has confirmed that this will not be extended and instead, it will remain in force for just larger organisations with 250 or more employees.
Additional Paternity Leave
Regions affected: England, Scotland, Wales
Comes into effect: 3rd April 2011
For babies that are due to be born on or after the 3rd April 2011, eligible fathers will become entitled to take additional paternity leave where the child’s mother returns to work early from her maternity leave. This additional paternity leave can be taken as early as 20 weeks after the birth and the father can take up to 6 months of leave. This is in addition to a father’s existing right to take up to 2 weeks of ordinary paternity leave. There are similar provisions in place for adoption leave after this date.
Flexible Working Extension Scrapped
Regions affected: England, Scotland, Wales
Comes into effect: 6th April 2011
A further extension had been confirmed for the right to request flexible working which was set to take effect on 6th April 2011. Under the proposed change, those with children under the age of 18 would have had the right to request flexible working after 6th April 2011, although in a recent announcement, Business Secretary, Vince Cable has suggested that the impending legislation will now be repealed. However, at the time of writing, this has not yet occurred.
Rates and Limits Increase
Regions affected: England, Scotland, Wales
Comes into effect: 6th April 2011
We would like to remind employers that rates of various statutory payments will increase in April 2011. The following table details the main rate changes:
| Payment | Amount |
|---|---|
| Statutory Maternity Pay | Statutory Rate is £128.73 per week from 3rd April 2011 |
| Statutory Adoption Pay | Statutory Rate is £128.73 per week from 3rd April 2011 |
| Statutory Paternity Pay | Statutory Rate is £128.73 per week from 3rd April 2011 |
| Statutory Sick Pay | £81.60 per week from 6th April 2011 |
| Lower Earnings Limit for NI purposes | £102 per week from 6th April 2011 |
Safety, Health & Environmental Updates
Amendment of the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006
Regions affected: Scotland
Comes into effect: 21st January 2011
This update has removed the reference of the Management of Health and Safety at Work, 1999 to introduce the requirement for employer to ensure (Under section 53 an employer must) "when entrusting tasks to an employee, take into consideration the employee’s capabilities as regards health and safety, so far as those capabilities relate to fire and are relevant to those tasks." This requires the trained member of staff to be fit and capable of undertaking Fire Safety Management duties.
Equality Act 2010 (Disability) Regulations 2010
Regions affected: England, Scotland, Wales
Comes into effect: 6th April 2011
The Equality Act 2010 (Disability) Regulations 2010 came into force on 1 October 2010. The regulations supplement provisions in the Equality Act 2010 relating to protection from discrimination for disabled people. They clarify requirements relating to the employer’s duty to make reasonable adjustments to physical features of his premises, set out what is to be treated as the provision of auxiliary aids and services and replicate and consolidate provisions that previously supplemented the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 where those provisions have not been included in the Equality Act 2010. In particular:
- Addictions to non-medically prescribed substances (alcohol, nicotine, etc), and certain other conditions, like a tendency to steal or set fires, a tendency to physical or sexual abuse of other persons, exhibitionism and voyeurism, are excluded from being impairments protected by the Act;
- People who have been certified by a consultant ophthalmologist as having a high degree of visual impairment are deemed to be disabled persons – this covers being certified as blind, severely sight impaired, sight impaired or partially sighted;
- Severe disfigurements consisting of tattoos and certain body piercings are not disabilities;
- Seasonal allergic rhinitis (hay fever) is excluded from being an impairment (but it can be taken into account where it aggravates the effect of another condition).
Food Hygiene (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2010
Regions affected: England
Came into effect: 13th April 2010
From 13 April 2010, new rules will apply certain changes to food hygiene legislation. They will also introduce exemptions from certain structural requirements for some slaughterhouses.
They will apply to:
- The methods of detecting Trichinella
- The methods of detecting Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning
- Record keeping as it applies to some fishing vessels
- Gelatine manufacture
- Fish oil imports
- Microbiological criteria
Slaughterhouse exemptions
Exemptions will apply for slaughterhouses that meet prescribed eligibility criteria and were formerly classified as having low throughput. Such businesses will be exempt from the need to have refrigerated detained meat facilities and/or facilities to cleanse and disinfect livestock vehicles.
The Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations 2011
Regions affected: England, Scotland, Wales
Comes into effect: 6th April 2011
The Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations 2010 have been updated to reflect changes made in legislation whereby fines or enforcement notices have been issued to organisations.
The revision updates fee levels and allows for charging for conventional health and safety inspection (in certain circumstances) on Nuclear and COMAH sites and part of the Gas Transportation networks.
To download this update in PDF format, please click here
