Our latest podcast by Rebecca Cairney and Ian Pace will be a roundup of all the employment changes that came in through last year in 2024, and a summary of what we are likely to expect this year in 2025.
Transcript
Ian: Hi, everyone. Happy new year. Welcome to the first edition of our employment law insights of 2025. My name is Ian Pace. I'm a partner in the employment team in Manchester.
Ian: I'm joined today by Rebecca Kearney who is a Principal Associate based in our Liverpool office.
Ian: Hi there, Rebecca.
Rebecca: Hello, Ian.
Ian: Today we're going to do a summary roundup of all the employment changes that came in through last year in 2024, and then looking for just giving a summary of what we are likely to expect this year in 2025.
Ian: So first off, a roundup of 2024.
Ian: Rebecca, would you just mind giving a few headlines of what we saw last year?
Rebecca: Yeah. Of course. Thanks, Ian. So, casting your mind back all the way to April 2024, we had a lot of changes come in at that time.
Rebecca: So firstly, there was the changes to flexible working. So, employees, since April 2024 have had the right to make a flexible working request from day one of their employment.
Rebecca: They can also make two requests per year now instead of one.
Rebecca: We then had a lot of changes to the family friendly rights. So, extension of the maternity leave protections. So regulation ten that protects women on maternity leave from redundancy by providing them with priority over other employees.
Rebecca: Those rights were extended to pregnant women and women who returned from maternity leave, for a period of up to six months after their return. And then this is also, applicable to those who take adoption leave or shared parental leave.
Rebecca: We then had some changes to paternity leave, which is now able to be taken more flexibly.
Rebecca: So, it doesn't have to be taken as a block of two weeks. It can be taken, for example, as, two blocks of, one week and it can be taken within the first year, after the child is born rather than the first eight weeks.
Rebecca: We then had, carers leave introduced, and that created a day one right for employees who are also unpaid unpaid carers to take up to one week of unpaid leave in each rolling twelve month period in order to provide care, and that can be taken flexibly, so half a day at a time, for example, if needed.
Rebecca: So that they were the big ones, from kind of early spring 2024. We then, of course, had the new duty to prevent sexual harassment come in October 2024. Now we covered this in, a huge amount of detail in the last podcast, but this essentially placed a new duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, including by third parties.
Rebecca: So the focus of this is very much on ensuring that employers are proactive rather than reactive in taking these measures and important steps to ensure that the risk to employees in experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace is minimised.
Rebecca: So, the duty is going to be extended still further, date TBC at the moment, but to ensure that employers have taken all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. So further expanding the onus on employers, in relation to that.
Rebecca: And then, of course, Ian, it wouldn't be an employment law update if we didn't mention the employment rights bill.
Rebecca: So, we got our first glimpse of the changes proposed by the Labour government.
Rebecca: And then there were some proposed amendments to the bill that were put forward back in November.
Rebecca: So the main one there being changes to the limitation date for presenting an employment tribunal claim and increasing that period, from three months as it currently is to six months, which is likely to have a huge impact on, the number of claims and also tribunal capacity.
Ian: Yeah. I mean, just stopping you on that point, and, obviously, you will have experienced as well I, and I'm sure many clients have that. And any clients with employment tribunal claims at the moment, you know, already waiting quite some time to get before an employment tribunal. So, yeah, it'd be interesting really to see how the employment tribunals will be able to cope with that. In my experience, you're waiting at least up to twelve months now for an employment tribunal hearing. So, if we're increasing the time period to six months to bring a claim, then obviously that should equal more claims. So that might equal, longer waiting times, wouldn't it?
Rebecca: Yeah. Absolutely. And I think, even in some of the tribunals down south, we've had hearings listed as far forward already as summer 2026.
Rebecca: So really, I think might struggle if, if we do see a huge increase in claims when that comes in.
Rebecca: But I was I was just also going to talk about, as a as a quick reminder, really, the fact that the employment rights bill is not set to come into force until autumn 2026.
Rebecca: But the key changes that are expected, again flexible working is a big one and that is going to be made the default.
Rebecca: So, employers will only be able to refuse a request if it is reasonable to do so. So that will of course give the tribunal greater scope to review flexible working request outcomes rather than as they have now simply just completing the review of the process.
Rebecca: There'll be a day one right not to be unfairly dismissed rather than the current two year qualifying period.
Rebecca: Labour have referenced an initial period of employment or probationary period and inferred that there'll be a light touch approach to processes during that period and presumably different legal tests, to satisfy, but we don't have any further detail on that at the moment.
Rebecca: Industrial relations was it was another big one where trade unions will have the right to access the workplace for recruitment and meetings and there'll be simplification to the rules on balloting, which will make it easier for the unions to ballot.
Rebecca: And those minimum service levels that were introduced by the conservatives, they're going to be repealed.
Rebecca: And then also the dismissal and re engagement changes which will mean that any dismissal for a failure to agree a contract change can be an automatically unfair dismissal. So, over the course of 2025 we are going to be doing some deep dive podcasts into those key changes, especially I suppose as more information comes to light on those main topics and what's expected so everybody can keep a lookout for those.
Ian: Yeah. Yeah. And, just looking into 2025 then, what do we think we're likely to see other than what you've already mentioned there about the employment rights bill?
Rebecca: Yeah. So, we've already seen some changes come in, for those to handle employment tribunal claims. So, we had the employment tribunal procedure rules come into effect from the sixth of January.
Rebecca: They contain mostly minor practical updates, but there has been some renumbering from the old rules, so it's worth kind of cross referencing the two of those, for the time being because it is worth noting that, the practice directions and the presidential guidance, still refer to the old rules and they will remain in place until the tribunal get round to reviewing and updating those. So, a sort of hybrid period of cross referencing the old and the new rules.
Rebecca: Legal officers now have greater autonomy in employment tribunals, so they are now authorized to make decisions on amending time limits for case directions, amendments to claims and responses where the other side doesn't object, postponing, some of the some of the hearings and, being able to dismiss a claim upon withdrawal. So, greater decision making, from legal officers. But, hopefully, that will help with squeezing up, some of the decisions that we're seeing.
Rebecca: So, fingers crossed that that's a good move.
Ian: The my HMCTS portal has been delayed. So, obviously, that was supposed to go live back in October 2024.
Rebecca: We were then expecting the new practice direction to launch on the sixth of January, but we, received a a message pre-Christmas to say that this was going to be delayed further, and we're waiting for further news on this. But, essentially, when that portal does, does come into force or it will mean that, presenting et3 responses, will have to be done via the portal rather than via email.
Rebecca: We are going to be given, apparently, a five-week grace period to allow users to sign up to the portal, but after that it will be mandatory to present responses via the portal rather than email.
Rebecca: And then similarly, from the first of February there's going to be a requirement for documents to be filed with the employment appeals tribunal via their new portal and we're going to be getting a new practice direction from them, hopefully on the same date.
Rebecca: 20 January there is going to be an amendment to the Trade Union and Labour Relations Consolidation Act, where an employer breach for failure to properly collectively consult will attract up to a 25% uplift on any protective awards. So, if anybody's having any industrial relations issues that's one to keep an eye on and be aware of.
Rebecca: And then in April 2025, we will see the statutory rates of sick pay, maternity pay, adoption, paternity, shared parental leave, and the parental bereavement pay, going to increase from £116.75 to one £2,518.75. And there will be the usual increases to national minimum wage and, national insurance.
Rebecca: And we're also going to see the liability for national insurance contributions reduced from £9,100 down to £5,000, which will result in, significant increases to National Insurance contributions liability, and likely to have an impact, I suppose, especially for smaller businesses. So, something to just be aware of there.
Ian: Yeah. Absolutely. And I think we've seen quite a bit of that in the, in the press recently as well. Yeah.
Ian: That's really helpful, Rebecca, and thanks for giving that sort of bite size overview. It's clear that, obviously, there's been a lot of changes already in the past twelve months or so, and there are still a lot more to come. And as you as Rebecca mentioned earlier, we will be doing some deep dives into each one of those different areas that are impacted by the employment rights bill, and we'll be looking at those in much more detail.
Ian: So do keep an eye out for each one of those podcasts, which we'll be able to provide a bit more detail, for you. But for now, if you have any HR or employment law assistance, then please do contact me. My email address is Ian.Pace@weightmans.com or Rebecca whose email address is Rebecca.Cairney@weightmans.com. And you can also find our contact details, via the website.
Ian: But in the meantime, thank you everyone for listening. Thanks very much again, Rebecca, for your input.
Ian: It's been really helpful today and See you.
Rebecca: Happy new year to everyone once again.