The compensation limits on Employment Tribunal awards and certain other amounts payable under UK employment legislation will increase as of 6 April 2018.
This alert sets out the changes in full and highlights important consequences for employers.
The compensation limits on Employment Tribunal awards and certain other amounts payable under UK employment legislation will be increased as of April 6, 2016.
Read the full UK Employment Alert.
What Does This Mean for Employers?
The changes will take effect on 6 April 2014 and will be applicable to dismissals taking effect on or after that date.
It is important for employers to note that:
Employers’ exposure in the event of an unfair dismissal claim will rise and should therefore be factored into decision making regarding litigation or settlement strategies.
by Katie Clark and Richard Cook
2013 saw a raft of changes to UK employment law and there are likely to be more in 2014. In this Employment Alert, we recap some of the key changes that happened in 2013 and look ahead at what to expect in 2014.
To view the full article please click here
What is changing?
From April 6, 2012, the length of continuous service needed by an employee in the UK to qualify:
Will this affect existing employees?
The new two year qualifying period will apply to an employee who commences work on or after April 6, 2012.
Employees who are already in employment on April 5, 2012, will not be affected by this change. They will still be able to bring a claim of standard unfair dismissal if they have at least one year’s continuous service.
Employees who transfer to a new employer under TUPE after April 6, 2012, but who were employed by the transferor prior to April 6, 2012, will also be covered by the one year service threshold for standard unfair dismissal.
What about employees who are currently being recruited?
An employee’s period of continuous employment “begins with the day on which the employee starts work.” This means that the increased qualifying period will only apply to employees who start work on or after April 6, 2012.
The date on which an employee commences a recruitment process, or is offered a job, is not relevant when it comes to calculating continuous employment.
What does this mean for employers?
If commercially possible, employers in the UK may wish to push new joiner start dates back to April 6, 2012 or beyond.
Ensure that your internal recruitment team, who may be making offers to candidates to start with you in early April 2012, know about the change.
Going forward, the date on which an employee started work will be as important as the date on which their employment ended for the purposes of determining if they are eligible to bring a standard unfair dismissal claim.
To make the position as certain as possible, ideally both the start date in the employment contract, and the date on which an employee commences work, should fall on or after April 6, 2012.
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