EMPLOYMENT LAW TIMETABLE FOR 2020

Forthcoming Employment Law Changes
 
This table is a summary of the forthcoming employment law changes during 2020.
 
31 January 2020
Date the UK is expected to leave the European Union

April 2020
Paid parental bereavement leave - parental bereavement leave will be introduced in April 2020 (Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018).
 
Parents or carers will be entitled to at least two weeks’ leave following the loss of a child under the age of 18 or a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy.
Employees with 26 weeks’ continuous service will receive paid leave at the statutory rate and other staff will be entitled to unpaid leave.
Leave can either be taken in one block or in two separate blocks of one week. It can be taken within a 56 week window from the child’s death, to allow time for moments such as anniversaries, and notice requirements will be flexible so leave can be taken without prior notice.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has said organisations will be able to reclaim the cost of paid statutory bereavement leave.
** Small organisations will be entitled to reclaim full costs of the leave, with large organisations expected to be entitled to reclaim around 90 per cent of costs. 
For accounting purposes Companies House defines a small business as employing less than 50 people and a turnover under £6.5 million and a medium business as less than 250 employees and a turnover under £25.9 million.
 

6 April 2020
Changes to taxation of termination payments - the NIC changes on 6 April 2020 mean that the treatment of termination payments is becoming even more complex.
Termination payments in excess of £30,000 are becoming much more costly as employers will be required to pay Class 1A NIC at 13.8 per cent on the excess of termination payments exceeding £30,000. 
Employers will need to consider these upcoming changes as they will bring additional costs when terminations arise.
 
6 April 2020
New law prohibiting use of Swedish derogation agency contracts takes effect - closes a loophole by repealing the Swedish derogation - which currently allows agency workers to be employed on cheaper rates than permanent counterparts.

6 April 2020
New law lowering the threshold required for information and consultation requests takes effect - lowers the threshold required for a request to set up Information and Consultation arrangements from 10% of staff to 2%.  Applies to companies with 50 or more workers.

6 April 2020
New day-one right to a written statement of main terms and conditions for workers and employees comes into force - extends the right to a day one of employment, written statement of rights to workers. 

6 April 2020
Amendments to mandatory information required within a statement of main terms and conditions comes into force -
Statutory right for information to include detail on rights such as eligibility for sick leave and pay, and details of other types of paid leave, such as maternity and paternity leave.

6 April 2020
New law extending the holiday pay reference period to 52 weeks takes effect - extends the holiday pay reference period from 12 to 52 weeks, ensuring those in seasonal or atypical such as zero hours contracts/roles get the paid time off they are entitled to.

6 April 2020
New law requiring employment businesses to provide all agency workers with a Key Information Document takes effect

6 April 2020
IR35 update: large and medium sized organisations in the private sector who engage contractors through intermediary companies, will be responsible for assessing the employment status of those contractors.

6 April 2020
Matthew Taylor’s report, ‘Good Work: the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices’, published in July 2017 and commissioned by the government, has made a number of suggestions for bringing the existing employment law framework more in to line with emerging patterns of working, some prompted by the ‘gig economy’.
 
This will include the introduction of clearer, statutory tests designed to distinguish between -

• Workers
• Employees
• Contractors

30 April 2020
Deadline for agency workers on Swedish derogation agency contracts to be provided with an explanatory statement

30 December 2020
EU Settlement Scheme closes to applicants in the event of a no-deal Brexit.