Government Good Work Plan

In December, the Government published its response to Matthew Taylor’s Review of Modern Working Practices. The GWP accepts the majority of the recommendations made by the Taylor Review, and there are various ‘headlines’ from it:

• From April 2020, a statement of written particulars will be provided to all employees, and now also workers, on or before day one. These will also include additional mandatory content, such as details of pay for all periods of absence;
• Pre-April 2020, employees will be able to request such a statement and the employer must comply within 1 month;
• The reference period over which a week’s pay is calculated for holiday pay purposes will be extended from 12 weeks to 52 weeks;
• The ‘Swedish Derogation’ whereby employers can avoid giving agency workers’ pay parity with their own workers in certain circumstances will be abolished;
• Agency workers will be provided with a ‘Key Facts Page’ with information about pay.

There are several other changes in the GWP which do not yet have draft or final legislation including:

• Clarity around the test of employment status. The detail of this fairly ambitious proposal has yet to emerge but the Government proposes to harmonise the test between the tribunal and tax jurisdictions to avoid misclassification.;
• The period required to break continuity of employment will be increased from one week to four weeks;
• Workers will be able to request a stable contract after six months of work;
• Banning employers from making deductions from staff tips.