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2023 is shaping up to be one of the busiest years for employment law in a while, with significant changes proposed to existing pieces of legislation, as well as new legal requirements likely to come into force during the year. This is challenging news for business owners and managers but have no fear: the HR Consultants at MAD-HR are doing the hard work on your behalf and trawling through the detail for you. So, here’s the summary version of what we can expect to become law this year:

1. Brexit Freedoms Bill

The snappily titled “Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill” (known to its friends as the “Brexit Freedoms Bill”) proposes to remove, amend or replace all legislation which came to the UK originally from the EU. Key areas covered include:

• The Working Time Directive
• The Agency workers regulations
• Statutory Holiday Entitlement
• GDPR
• Part time Workers’ Regulations and
• Fixed Term Workers Regulations

These are just some of the c.2,400 pieces of legislation likely to be affected. Any EU-derived law not already amended, appealed or replaced or by 31st December 2023 will simply cease to apply in the UK. On that basis, the government has its work cut out trying to have the new legislation in place by the deadline.

So, what does this mean for my business?

As yet, we don’t have the full detail on any proposed changes, but MAD-HR will be providing regular updates via our website as the picture becomes clearer – watch this space!

2. Family Friendly – new laws

Several Bills are currently going through Parliament relating to rights for employees with family-related responsibilities. These include:

• Carer’s leave – this will allow employees with caring responsibilities (e.g. those with elderly or disabled relatives) to take a week of unpaid leave per year. The right would be for any employee from day one of employment. This is in addition to the existing legal entitlement to unpaid Time Off for Dependents, which is available for emergency care.
• Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill – currently any employee who is on maternity leave and facing a redundancy situation should get priority for any suitable vacancies, even over other employes whose roles are also at risk. The new legislation proposes to extend this right during the whole of pregnancy and for 6 months after the end of the 52 week maternity leave period. Similar protection will be made available to parents returning from a period of Adoption Leave or Shared Paternity Leave.
• Neonatal leave and pay – this will allow parents the right to paid time off for children who are receiving or have received neonatal care. The period of time off will be a minimum of 1 week up to a maximum of 12 weeks and, like carer’s leave, will apply to employees from day one of employment.
• Miscarriage Leave Bill – currently, if a miscarriage occurs after 24 weeks of pregnancy, employees are still entitled to maternity or paternity leave and pay. This new Bill would apply to parents who have experienced a miscarriage before 24 weeks. The right is to 3 days of paid leave to allow them to grieve. As with the other Bills above, we don’t know yet when this will become law.
• Flexible working – the current law on this topic requires an employee to have at least 1 year’s service before they can make a flexible working request. The proposed revision to this would allow employees to make a formal flexible working request from day one of employment and allow them to make two requests per year, rather than the current limit to one request in a 12 month period.

So, what does this mean for my business?

The government has yet to give any timescales for when the new Family Friendly laws will come into effect. For now, employers should start planning for updates to any Employee Handbooks and/or Family Friendly Policies. We at MAD-HR will, of course, continue to provide updates on the timescales as soon as we know them and we can help employers with any policy revisions required, to ensure you remain legally compliant.

3. Third-party Harassment at Work

This Bill will introduce a duty on employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of employees by third parties, for example, customers or suppliers. Under the Bill, employers will become liable for the harassment if they are considered not to have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it. Full details are yet to be available but the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has said it will provide a statutory code of practice once the Bill becomes law.

So, what does this mean for my business?

Hopefully you already have policies in place to prevent any kind of harassment for your employees, not just harassment relating to sex. However, any Equality & Diversity policies are likely to need updating in line with the promised code of practice from EHRC, once it is available. Employees should also receive regular training on how to prevent and deal with harassment both from other employees and third parties. Your MAD-HR consultancy team will, of course, be happy to help with any policy revisions and provision of training.

4. And finally…

It won’t have escaped your notice that we have a Coronation this year! To celebrate, the government announced that there will be an additional Bank Holiday, on 8th May.

So, what does this mean for my business?

You will need to review the wording in employees’ contracts regarding Bank Holiday entitlement:

• If the contract states that employees ‘are entitled to 8 Bank Holidays a year’ and / or names the specific Bank Holidays, you have no contractual obligation to allow the employees the additional Bank Holiday and can decide whether or not to use discretion and allow them paid time off anyway. (Just bear in mind the impact on employee morale if you say “no”, though…).
• If the contract wording is less specific and uses wording like, “you are entitled to ‘x’ days of annual leave plus Bank Holidays”, then you may well have a contractual obligation to allow employees the paid time off for the additional day.
• Remember that employees who work part-time are entitled to Bank Holidays on a pro rata basis. In normal times, an employee who works, say, 3 days a week would be entitled to 3/5 of 8 Bank Holidays, i.e. 5 days (rounded from 4.8). If the contract wording is woolly on Bank Holiday entitlement, then the example above becomes 3/5 of 9 Bank Holidays i.e. 5.5 days (rounded from 5.4).

If you’d like help reviewing contract wording around Bank Holidays or calculating part time entitlement, just contact MAD-HR and we’d be happy to help!

This text was originally written by MAD-HR Ltd. Copyright © 2023 MAD-HR Ltd. All rights reserved: https://www.mad-hr.co.uk/blog/key-changes-in-employment-law-2023

Image provided by MAD-HR

From Saturday 22^nd July until Sunday 3^rd September 2023, Chantry Place Norwich is hosting a free ‘Safari Summer’ event with large animal sculptures, free crafts and educational activities from Banham Zoo and Africa Alive Reserve.

Throughout the summer holidays, Chantry Place will be home to 10 animal sculptures, including a giant hippo, lion, giraffe, elephant, panda and more. Visitors can pick up a trail map from Deichmann on the lower ground floor of Chantry Place and then go on a safari hunt to find them all. Once complete, families can head back to Deichmann to pick up a free goody bag offering a complimentary child’s ticket for free entry to Banham Zoo or Africa Alive Reserve with a full paying adult, as well as an animal medal or prize, and enter their details to be in with a chance of winning a family annual pass to Banham Zoo and Africa Alive, with an annual pass up for grabs every week.

Every Wednesday in the summer holidays, Chantry Place will host ‘Wild Wednesdays’ with local company, Schoodoodle, hosting free arts and crafts sessions with themes changing every week. Suitable for children aged four and above, these need to be booked in advance via Eventbrite. Some of the activities include making a lion’s mane and a bird of prey mask!

As part of Wild Wednesdays, the education team from Banham Zoo and Africa Alive Reserve will also be at Chantry Place. Visitors can visit the discovery station, which will include artefacts, animal information and other zoo-related puzzles and games, on the lower ground floor near HMV. Visitors will have the opportunity to find out more about the animals they care for and about their work. They will also be at Chantry Place on 22^nd and 23^rd July, and 14^th and 15^th August 2023.

Paul McCarthy, general manager at Chantry Place, comments: “Families can have a fun-filled day exploring Chantry Place this summer, going on our summer safari to find our animal sculptures and learning some animal facts along the way. We are really excited by the partnership we have created with Banham Zoo and Africa Alive Reserve this summer, who are providing an educational link and are generously providing some incredible prizes and offers for people doing the trail. We will be working with SchooDoodle to allow little ones to get creative every Wednesday and we can’t wait to see what they come up with! All our summer activities and events are free at Chantry Place.”

Joshua Hunter-Harl, head of marketing at The Zoological Society of East Anglia, the charity that runs Banham Zoo and Africa Alive Reserve, said: “We are thrilled to be part of the ‘Safari Summer’ event at Chantry Place and are excited to engage with visitors through our educational activities. As a conservation charity, education lies at the heart of everything we do, and a trip to Banham Zoo or Africa Alive Reserve offers students of all ages an unmissable opportunity to bring learning to life outside of the classroom. We hope our partnership will help to inspire a love of animals and nature in children and adults alike.”

Hannah Cole and Terry Stewart, from team SchooDoodle, comments: “We are so excited to be part of ‘Safari Summer’ at Chantry Place and can’t wait to get creative every Wednesday. We have a different animal themed crafting activity each week. Join us in embracing the mess, empowering creativity, and making memories with your little ones this summer.”

Norfolk Wildlife Trust will also be visiting the Centre on Monday 7^th August and Monday 21^st August and will be educating visitors on urban wildlife, plus hosting free, fun activities for all to enjoy.

To book the free SchooDoodle crafts events visit Wild Wednesdays Children’s Arts & Crafts Sessions | Eventbrite

For more information on Safari Summer at Chantry Place, visit chantryplace.co.uk

Many organisations across the UK rely on unpaid labour in the form of interns each year. Gaining experience in a relevant field, making industry contacts or even securing a job could be invaluable to their future career. So where is the issue if both parties are benefiting from the arrangement?

What is an internship?

An internship is a form of work experience, often undertaken by university students or graduates. The length and arrangements for internships vary greatly and there is no formal definition of an ‘intern’ under UK law. Whether an intern is entitled to be paid for their work, and gains other employment-related rights, will depend on how the relationship is managed.

Ethical considerations

Values led organisations may want to consider whether it is ethical to have individuals working in their business with no pay. Whilst some employers may feel that the non-financial benefits of completing the internship far outweigh this, the 2017 Taylor Review boldly described unpaid internships as an “abuse of power by employers and extremely damaging to social mobility”.

Following the Taylor Review, the government set out guidance to make the position and rights of interns clearer.

Students that can fully commit to their internship will achieve better results for your business. If the internship is unpaid, that student will realistically have to juggle a part time job or incur debt because unless they are financially supported, students will still need to find a way to pay their bills. This may result in a restriction to the pool of talent that can take part in your internship, directly in conflict with many organisations equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) strategies.

National Minimum Wage

In the UK, all workers above compulsory school age must be paid the national minimum wage (NMW) for their age. Further information about the NMW can be found in our blog.

How the relationship is set up and how the employer and intern interact will determine whether the intern is a worker, simply calling them a volunteer or unpaid does not create an exemption from the duty to pay NMW:

• Where they are only shadowing and not carrying out work, they will not be a worker and will not be entitled to the NMW.
• If they are working on a genuinely voluntary basis and do not receive any financial reward or benefit in kind for the work they perform, they will likely not be a worker and therefore not be entitled to the NMW.
• If they are carrying out work and the employer exerts some control over the way that they perform their work (for example, a requirement to work set hours or days), it is likely that they will be a worker and entitled to the NMW.

Failing to correctly pay NMW can result in an employment tribunal and significant fine by HMRC in addition to the potential for bad publicity.

Working Time

Interns are usually university students and therefore over the age of 18. However, if you do create opportunities for younger interns, ensure that the adjusted requirements of the Working Time Directive are incorporated. The adjustments include a shorter working patterns and longer breaks. Find out more about working time here.

How to get it right

On balance, organisations may consider offering paid internships makes better business sense. Paid internships have the potential to be more mutually rewarding to both parties and will help remove the barrier of social mobility from an EDI perspective. If you are thinking of creating internship opportunities, take a moment to consider the purpose, how it will work in reality and therefore whether NMW will apply. Our expert HR consultants can support you with this.

This text was originally written by MAD-HR Ltd. Copyright © 2023 MAD-HR Ltd. All rights reserved: https://www.mad-hr.co.uk/blog/summer-internships-and-experience-is-it-ever-possible-to-employ-temporary-young-staff-legally-and-ethically

Image provided by MAD-HR

Volunteers have been hailed for their “dedication, loyalty, passion and commitment” at the start of a celebration week thanking them for their invaluable contribution.

East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) Chief Executive Phil Gormley was speaking at the beginning of the 39^th annual Volunteers’ Week, which gets underway today and runs until next Wednesday (7^th June).

It is a chance to recognise the contribution people make within their communities and is supported by small, grassroots organisations as well as larger, household-name charities.

EACH is no different and blessed with an army of nearly 2,000 volunteers, all of whom give their time to help the charity continue its vital work supporting families and caring for children and young people with life-threatening conditions.

“Our extraordinary volunteers inspire me every day,” said Phil.

“Their dedication, loyalty, passion and commitment is unstinting and they remain at the heart of everything we do.

“That’s why Volunteers’ Week is so important on our calendar because it gives us a chance to pause, celebrate and say a heartfelt thank you.

“Their support, time and effort is vital and hugely appreciated and we wouldn’t be able to do what we do without them. Together, we can make a difference.”

EACH volunteers lend their time in a variety of ways, from supporting the Retail and Fundraising teams to lending a hand at one of its three hospices and signing up for its Help at Home service.

They range in age and come from a variety of backgrounds, with differing skillsets.

“Some have been volunteering for years and others have joined more recently,” added Phil.

“Collectively, it’s hard to overstate their incredible impact and such diversity is a real strength.

“Of course, we can always do with extra help and I’d wholeheartedly encourage anyone to step forward and join us.

“It’s worth stressing that there’s more than one way to volunteer.

“There are lots of things people can do, to suit their interests, and it’s a way to gain valuable new skills and experiences, as well as boosting confidence.

“It doesn’t matter if you can only offer a couple of hours a week or even fortnight. A little help makes a big difference.”

Anyone interesting in joining the team and finding out more can email volunteerservices@each.org.uk or click here.

EACH has hospices in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, in addition to 47 Retail shops in the heart of communities across East Anglia.

Image Credits EACH – Left to right, CEO Phil Gormley, Fundraising Volunteer, Fundraising Volunteers, Help at Home gardening volunteer, Retail volunteer, Retail volunteers

Welcome to the Keyboards 4 Kids initiative