Tomorrow is the commencement date for a range of employment legislation, including new family-friendly policies and consultation duties.

But according to a survey by Peninsula BusinessWise, many organisations don’t realise the scope of the new legislation.

And although a survey by CIPD/KPMG is more optimistic when it comes to the state of preparedness, it reveals that only one in 10 employers think the provisions will be beneficial to their organisations.

Key new legislation includes:

• The right to request flexible working is extended to carers as well as parents. This is only a right to request, not an automatic right to receive and it only extends to those who care for spouses, parents or partners




• Increase in maternity pay and for those whose babies were born or adopted after 1 April, an increase in additional maternity leave to nine months. Employers are to be given more notice of when the return to work will take place




• The Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations are extended to firms with 100 employees – they already applied to firms with more than 150 employees but are voluntary unless there is an employee request




• There is a new duty to consult on significant changes to occupational pension schemes for organisations with more than 100 staff.

In addition, for the public sector, the new gender equality duty comes into force. This means that employers will have to identify goals, show the action they are taking to implement them, publish and monitor the goals and review them every three years. The duty does not just apply to employees but also to users of the service the organisation provides.