National Minimum Wage and Living Wage

The National Minimum Wage is reviewed each October and increased again with effect from 1 October 2015. The current rates are now:

£6.70 per hour for workers aged 21 or over;
£5.30 per hour for workers aged 18 to 20 inclusive;
£3.87 per hour for workers aged 16 to 17 inclusive; and
£3.30 per hour for apprentices – this applies to anyone regardless of age in their first year of apprenticeship, and anyone aged 18 or under in subsequent years of apprenticeship.
Do you remember your first hourly rate?

On 23 October 2015, it was announced that 115 employers had been found to have failed to pay the National Minimum Wage, including large firms such as Monsoon/ Accessorize. They have apparently now corrected the errors and so the employees are not out of pocket, but the employers are facing large fines.

In April 2016, the National Living Wage will be introduced for workers aged 25 and over. This will be set at £7.20 per hour and will increase to £9.00 per hour by 2020. The National Minimum Wage rates for those workers aged under 25 will continue to apply.

At the moment, and until April 2016, the payment of a “living wage” is voluntary. The Living Wage Foundation has been campaigning for employers to adopt their living wage, which is actually higher than the new National Living Wage rate at £7.85 per hour across the UK and £9.15 per hour in London. They have had some success, for example, IKEA recently became the first national retailer to adopt the living wage across its workforce.

However, for smaller employer and industries where margins are tight, the increased cost of wages (approximately £20 per week for each full time worker aged 25+) could be difficult to manage.

When asked how employers could afford the change, Nick Boles MP said that through the employment allowance and changes to corporation tax there are planned cuts to taxes and employers National Insurance Contributions worth £3billion…

Health and Work Service/ Fit For Work

In our October 2014 seminar, and blogs around that time, we looked at the government consultation on how to deal with the growing problem of long term absence and the planned Health and Work Service, which was due to be launched in late 2014 and rolled out by May 2015. In fact the service has been renamed Fit for Work service and became available at the end of July 2015.

How does it work? The service includes:

an advice helpline and website (http://fitforwork.org/); and

an assessment, which will take place on referral after 4 weeks’ of absence.

It is expected that the referral for assessment will be made by the employee’s GP in most cases, However, since September 2015 it has been possible for an employer to make the referral – this is an important development as concerns had been raised that GPs may not make the referral at all or may not make it as quickly as an employer may require it.

A study by Jelf Employee Benefits found that around 42% of employer respondents planned to refer some of their long term absentees to the scheme and around 27% of employer respondents planned to refer all of their long term absentees to the scheme. This is important as concerns have

Around 865,000 employees per year reach the 4 weeks’ sickness absence point at present and it is a significant problem and cost for employers. The assessment will look at the issues preventing the employee from returning to work and following the assessment, the employee will receive a return to work plan with recommendations tailored to the employee’s needs on what they may be able to do and how they may be able to return to work more quickly.

The Trade Union Bill

The Trade Union Bill is continuing to cause controversy, with critics describing it as Draconian and Scottish Local Authorities refusing to uphold it.

In recent news, Len McCluskey wrote to David Cameron and offered to abandon Unite’s opposition to the requirement for 50% turnout for strike ballots in return for online voting in connection with public service strike ballots. Len McCluskey explained that the current system of requiring postal votes for strikes meant there was often a low turnout and recognised that no one can be happy with staff walking out, particularly in public services such as the NHS, after low turnouts in strike ballots.

The Trade Union Bill also requires a minimum 40% vote in favour of a strike for key services such as fire, education, health and transport.

The Independent has reported that all 32 Scottish councils have said that they will ignore the Trade Union Bill when it becomes law. A Scottish Government spokesman said "We have set out our clear and strong opposition to the proposals in the Trade Union Bill, which we regard as a totally unjustified attack on workers' rights. We will continue to oppose these plans in the strongest possible way, and we urge the UK Government to look again at these deeply flawed proposals." A spokesman for the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities said that the Bill would "endanger" their existing relationship with trade unions and lead to "industrial unrest".

Turbans instead of Safety Helmets

Since 1 October 2015, Sikhs have been granted the right to wear a turban instead of a safety helmet in almost all workplaces in Great Britain save for specific roles in the military and emergency services. If you’re unsure of your obligations in connection with this, let me know and we can look at your work place and the rules that may apply.

Shared Parental Leave

You are probably all familiar with the shared parental leave scheme that came in to force for children born or adopted from April 2015 onwards.

The Chancellor, George Osborne, has announced that he will extend shared parental leave and pay to working grandparents; there is no start date for this yet. The new system will help support working families, as the government recognises the crucial role grandparents play in providing childcare. Evidence suggests that nearly 2 million grandparents have given up work, reduced their hours or taken time off to help cut down childcare costs. Watch this space for more information!

Posted Friday 30th of October 2015