The top 10: UK employment law changes in April 2011

April means the first tranche of the year’s employment law changes come into force and the Coalition Government has been busy. Suzanne Horne summarises this April’s top 10 new laws, guidance, rates and limits.   1.    Draft guidance published on agency workers regulations On 1 April 2011 the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (“BIS”) […]

Income protection insurance instead of statutory sick pay

Lord Freud, the government’s welfare reform minister is considering proposals for the reform of the current system of statutory sick pay (SSP) to cover sick employees. His aim is to avoid people claiming long term sickness and disability benefits by providing earlier support for employees. He has commissioned an independent review of sickness absence which […]

Happiness and wellbeing during depression awareness week

Physical and mental wellbeing is a key theme this week, with the focus being on raising awareness of the impact of depression and the need for first aid skills and equipment in the workplace.  Depression affects a huge one in five of the UK population at some point and costs the British economy more than […]

HR department pays price of false accusations at Renault

Heads have rolled at Renault following an HR failure that led to three employees being sacked after being falsely accused of industrial espionage.  Patrick Pelata, the French carmaker’s chief operating officer, has stepped down, although he will remain with the firm, while Jean-Yves Coudreau, the HR manager responsible for senior executives, legal director Christian Husson […]

Over 20, 000 clinical NHS jobs to be cut

More than half of the 40,000 NHS jobs facing the axe over the next three years will be clinical posts, even though a majority of nurses are already struggling to cope due to inadequate staffing levels.  Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, warned at the nursing union’s […]

Regional financing to safeguard 127, 000 jobs

The coalition government has pledged that £450 million in financing for private sector businesses courtesy of its Regional Growth Fund will create or safeguard 127,000 jobs across the country.  It expects that the £1.4 billion Fund’s first investment round, which has provisionally been awarded to 50 bidders subject to due diligence, will directly create and […]

Ask the expert: Sickness and pay increases

This week the experts, Adam Partington and Esther Smith advise on whether to give a pay increase to an employee on sick pay.     The question: Sickness and pay increases I have an employee on long term sick, the SSP has long ended and we are approaching our financial end of year. The other […]

Deja vu – the back to work interview

Back-to-work interviews help to reintegrate staff returning to the workplace. This can include planned absences such as maternity leave or a sabbatical. The aim is to welcome employees back, brief them on any relevant matters and ensure they are fully prepared to take up their duties again.  The most frequent use of return-to-work (RTW) interviews […]

Could you tweet your job application?

Digital marketing executives keen to work for a Brighton-based publisher are being asked to tweet as to why they should be considered for the post.       As a result, applicants for the job at the Friday Media Group, which owns about 70 classified ad and recruitment websites as well as various print titles, […]

50p tax rate could be scrapped

Chancellor George Osborne is believed to want to scrap the 50p rate of tax in his 2013 Budget following claims that it does not make money for the Exchequer.       Although a review is just about to start into how much the higher rate – which came into force in April last year […]

‘Private cloud’ provides best of both worlds for recruitment firm

Putting sensitive data ‘into the cloud’ is a step too far for many organisations. However a ‘private cloud’ can provide a solution which fits, like this example. A Scottish recruitment consultancy chose to migrate its IT infrastructure to a private rather than public cloud environment because the level of control and accessibility that the model […]

NWM increase: Employer opinion is split

Opinion is split on the impact of increases to the National Minimum Wage, with some employers branding it as “moderate” and others the “wrong increase at the wrong time”.  After accepting the recommendations of the independent Low Pay Commission, the coalition government decided that, as of 1 October this year, the rate for adults would […]

The naked office is recruiting

A software company in Amersham has shown naked ambition by advertising jobs for “attractive, young” sales people and web programmers who are happy to work in the buff.  Nude House, which was set up in 1977 by naturist Chris Taylor and is a division of a larger firm Songbird, sells a promotional ecommerce application called […]

Paternity leave and payroll

With changes to Statutory Paternity Pay due to take effect in April 2011, Mike Bull, Customer Support Manager at Sage UK investigates the impact this will have both for British businesses and individual taxpayers.  Nick Clegg’s plans to make parental leave more flexible by allowing mothers and fathers to share time off after a baby’s […]

IT workers preferring contracts over permanent roles

Employers are facing increasingly stiff competition in hiring IT professionals over the year ahead as many are opting to leave permanent employment and move to better paid contracting roles.   According to a survey undertaken by recruitment consultancy Hays IT, skills shortages will be particularly marked in areas such as information security, business intelligence and […]

HR needs to adapt to older workforce

With a third of the workforce expected to comprise workers over 50 by 2020, HR departments will need to hone their recruitment and engagement strategies in order to get the best out of them.   According to a survey among 1,004 employees, of which 190 were aged 55 and over, undertaken by talent consultancy Chiumento, […]

Report: Paedophile materials being distributed through work networks

Paedophiles are increasingly bringing unlawful images and videos into the workplace on mobile storage devices such as USBs and using corporate computers to distribute them online, a report has claimed.  The warning was given in a white paper entitled ‘Cleaning up Britain’, which was written by NetClean, a company that develops software to track, flag […]

Work placements should be more accessible, says Clegg

Nick Clegg will urge employers to sign up to a “business compact” today in order to open up work placements beyond those young people who are “sharp-elbowed and well connected”.  The Deputy Prime Minister will make the call as part of his social mobility strategy, which is due to be published this morning. The national […]

Finding new roles for existing staff within your organisation

In spite of many economies being under pressure to grow and the problem of high unemployment levels, acquiring and retaining good people is a constant challenge. Simon North explains. Why is the issue of finding new roles for individuals who are already within your organisation worth discussing? Clearly the issue of keeping what we typically […]

The question: What are the pro-rata company sick pay waiting periods for part-time employees?

This time the experts, Esther Smith and Martin Brewer explain what to do about pro-rata sick pay for part time employeees. The question: What are the pro-rata company sick pay waiting periods for part-time employees? Our company operates an organisational sick pay scheme that entitles workers to full pay after they have been off sick […]