Upcoming April 2024 employment law changes

With a flurry of legislative changes coming into force this Spring, here are the important developments to be aware of…

Minimum wage increases

The Government announced its acceptance of the Low Pay Commission’s recommendations on minimum wage rates to apply from 1 April 2024.

The National Living Wage age will also be lowered to 21, we suggest a review of wages to ensure minimum wage is met.

New rules for ‘irregular hours’ and ‘part year’ workers

“Rolled-up” holiday pay will be permitted for part-year and irregular hours workers only for holiday years that start from 1 April 2024 onwards. Employers will be able to apply a 12.07% uplift to pay, provided it is paid at the same time as normal pay and any itemised pay slips specify the amount of holiday pay that is included. We suggest reviewing the contracts of any affected workers.

Changes to statutory right to request flexible working

From 6 April employees will be able to make two flexible working requests in any 12-month period – currently they are only able to make one request in any 12-month period, and employees will no longer have to explain the impact on the employer. Employers must deal with flexible working requests within two months and must ‘consult’ with the employee before making a decision.

We suggest reviewing flexible working policies in light of the upcoming changes to ensure that it reflects the new changes.

Maternity Leave redundancy protection extension

It is anticipated that from 6 April additional protection for employees who are pregnant/on maternity leave will come into effect.  Protection will begin when the employee informs the employer that they are pregnant and will apply until 18 months from either adoption, childbirth or the first day of the expected week of childbirth depending on the type of leave taken.

The changes will not prevent employers from making redundant pregnant employees or those who are taking or have taken a period of maternity, adoption or shared parental leave. The new provisions are merely an extension of the existing priority applicable to such employees in terms of any alternative roles which may be available to employees displaced by the redundancy exercise. Employers should note that all redundancy exercises, including those that start before 6 April 2024 but are continuing on that date, could be affected by these changes.

New statutory right to Carer’s leave

New regulations will allow employees to take one week’s unpaid leave in a 12-month period to provide or arrange care for a dependant with a long-term care need. This may be taken as individual days or a one week block. Employees must give the employer notice of any leave requested.

Employers will need to undertake the necessary policy reviews to incorporate this change and to adhere to the regulations when they are implemented from 6 April 2024.

Paternity leave changes

Employees whose babies are born (or in the case of adoption, placed) after 6 April will be able to take paternity leave at any point in the first year of child-birth or after adoption. From 6 April two weeks leave can be taken together or can be split up into two separate one week blocks.

Paternity leave policies will need to be updated to reflect these changes.