You may have heard, there a few important family-friendly changes coming into force on 6 April 2024.
As these are legislative changes, they will require employers to give their Employee Handbook a bit of a polish.
Here’s our brief ‘at a glance’ rundown of what’s changing, the applicable timelines, and, crucially, what you should do to prepare:
1. Flexible working
What’s changing?
- the right to request flexible working will become a ‘day 1’ right (presently an employee must have at least 26 weeks’ continuous employment by the date of a request);
- when making a request, an employee will no longer have to explain what effect, if any, the employee thinks their requested change would have on the employer and how any such effect might be dealt with;
- the current limitation restricting an employee to 1 request in any 12-month period will be replaced by an entitlement to make 2 requests in any 12-month period;
- an employer will not be permitted to refuse a request unless the employee has been consulted; and
- the time for an employer to make a final decision will be reduced from 3 to 2 months (although it will remain open for the parties to agree a longer period).
Timeline
The new rules, contained within the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023, will apply to any requests received on or after 6 April 2024.
What to do?
Employers will need to amend their Flexible Working policy. Also, Acas has published a revised Code of Practice, which is helpful and definitely worth a read.
2. Time-off for carers
What’s changing?
- the introduction of a new and flexible entitlement of 1 week’s unpaid leave per year;
- it applies to employees who are providing or arranging care for a spouse, partner, civil partner, child, parent, a person who lives in the same household, or a person who reasonably relies on them for care and who has:
- a physical or mental illness or injury that means they’re expected to need care for more than 3 months;
- a “disability” within the meaning of s.6 Equality Act 2010; or
- care needs because of old age;
- leave can be taken in either half days and/or full days, up to a maximum of 1 week in total, to be taken over a 12-month period;
- the employee must give the following notice of any request:
- if a half day or day is requested – 3 days’ notice must be given; and
- if more than a day - the notice must be twice as long as the requested leave (i.e. if 2 days are requested, then 4 days’ notice must be given);
- during carer’s leave, an employee is entitled to the benefit of all their terms and conditions, apart from the right to remuneration, and will remain subject to all their usual obligations; and
- carer’s leave benefits from the same statutory protections that apply to other forms of family-related leave (including protection from detriment and dismissal arising from them taking such leave).
Timeline
The new right is provided for by the Carer’s Leave Regulations 2024 and comes into force on 6 April 2024.
What to do?
Again, make sure policies are up to date, and just generally be familiar with the right (as employees may well start requesting it straight away).
3. Increased redundancy protection
What’s changing?
- the existing right for certain employees to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy (where there is one) if their role is redundant, is to be extended to cover:
- pregnant employees (not only those on maternity leave);
- employees returning from statutory maternity or adoption leave; and
- employees who have taken a period of 6 or more weeks of shared parental leave (and are not covered by the protections relating to maternity or adoption leave);
- for pregnant employees the protected period lasts from the date they notify their employer in writing of their pregnancy up until to 6 months after their return from maternity leave; and
- for employees returning from maternity, adoption or shared parental leave, the protection applies for 18 months after the expected week of childbirth, the date of placement for adoption, or the date of the child’s birth (depending on their particular circumstances).
Timelines
The new protections are introduced by the Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave and Shared Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 and will cover:
- employees presently on statutory maternity or adoption leave which ends on or after 6 April 2024;
- employees who take a relevant period of shared parental leave starting on or after 6 April 2024; and
- employees who inform their employer of their pregnancy on or after 6 April 2024.
What to do?
For employers with a written Redundancy policy, that may need updating (if it deals with the point). For those who don’t, it is simply an issue to bear in mind when considering any future redundancies and/or restructures.
4. Paternity leave
What’s changing?
- fathers and partners will be allowed to take their leave and pay as two non-consecutive blocks of 1 week (whereas now it must be taken in one single block of either 1 or 2 weeks);
- fathers and partners will be allowed to take their leave and pay at any time within the first year after the birth or adoption of their child (whereas now it must be taken within the first 8 weeks after adoption or birth); and
- the notice period (in all cases save for domestic adoption cases) that the employee is required to provide will be shortened to 28 days in respect of each period of leave.
Timelines
The Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 actually came into force on 8 March 2024, and these changes apply to leave taken in relation to: children whose:
- children whose expected week of childbirth is after 6 April 2024; and
- children whose expected date of placement for adoption, or expected date of entry into Great Britain for adoption, is on or after 6 April 2024.
What to do?
Update policies and procedures, and if you offer enhanced contractual paternity pay (i.e. more than the statutory minimum) then consider how you wish that enhancement to interact with these changes to the statutory baseline entitlement.
So there is a bit of polishing to do over the next few weeks, but it is all fairly straight forward stuff – and, naturally, we would be delighted to assist with any updates to your policies and procedures.
