Carry over of holiday
From 1 Jan 2024, if an employee is unable to take some or all of their statutory holiday entitlement as a result of taking a period of family-related leave, they will be entitled to carry forward their full contractual leave entitlement into the next year.
If an employee is unable to take some or all of their holiday entitlement as a result of sickness, they will be entitled to carry forward up to 4 weeks of their untaken leave into the following year. However, the carry over is subject to the employee taking the leave within 18 months from the date it was carried.
Flexible Working Rights
Effective from 6 April, significant amendments were made to flexible working entitlements. The right to request flexible working is now a day 1 right, and employees are no longer obligated to explain the potential impact of their requested change or to suggest how to manage any effects.
Employees also now have the right to make 2 requests in any 12 month period and employers now have less time to respond, at 2 months.
TUPE
Effective from 1 January, new amendments have come into effect, enabling employers to consult with employees individually, in circumstances where fewer than 10 employees are affected, or the business has less than 50 employees.
Guide to Preventing Sexual Harassment
From October 2024, employers will be required to proactively prevent sexual harassment, placing a greater responsibility on the business to create safer workplaces for employees.
Redundancy Protections
Redundancy protection will extend to pregnancy and for 18 months after relevant protected leave. The protected period for pregnancy commences when the employee notifies their employer that they are pregnant. The additional protected period continues for 18 months after their expected week of childbirth, or placement for adoption.
The new legislation applies to employees where their protected leave ends on or after 6 April.
Neonatal Leave
Not expected to come into effect until April 2025, this new legislation provides parents of babies who are admitted into hospital, aged 28 days or less, the right to statutory leave and pay if the baby is in hospital for a continuous period of 7 days or more.
Neonatal leave will be up to 12 weeks and must be taken within 68 weeks of birth.
Paternity Leave
As of 6 April, employees now have the option to take Paternity Leave as two separate 1 week blocks within 52 weeks of the birth or placement of their child. The notice period for taking Paternity Leave also reduced to 28 days.
Right to request a predictable working pattern
Expected to come into effect in late 2024, workers will have the right to request predictable working hours. Once a worker has made a request, employers will have 1 month to respond and 2 requests can be made in any 12 month period.
Rolled-up Holiday Pay
Effective from 1 April, employers will again have the option to pay rolled-up holiday. This is limited only to workers with irregular hours or part-year contracts. Holiday entitlement will usually be calculated at a rate of 12.07% of the hours worked.
Carers Leave
Effective from 6 April, employees can take up to 1 week carers leave to provide or arrange care for a dependant. The leave can be taken in separate blocks but must be in a minimum of half a day. Employees become eligible from their first day of employment.
Author: Amy Roeks
