Changes to law for Mobile Workers

Recent European case law developments have ruled that, for mobile workers, the time spent travelling to and from their first and last job of the day counts as ‘working time’.

What counts as working time for mobile workers?

• The time spent travelling to the first job and last job of the day will now count as ‘working time’ for mobile workers.
• Mobile workers are those who do not have a fixed office base i.e. possible sales representatives, mobile technicians, mobile care workers etc.
• The ruling has been designed to protect the safety and health of workers in terms of their rest periods. Travelling time from their home to a customer’s premises, and vice versa, is now classed as ‘time at the disposal of the employer’. 

The Ruling - Court of Justice of the European Union – Federacion de Servicios Privados del sindicato Comisiones obreras Vs Tyco Integrated Security (2015)

This case emerged from a group of technicians employed to install and maintain security equipment in various locations in Spain.  The company, Tyco, had decided to close their regional offices and operate from a remote central office in Milan giving the workers the use of company vehicles. On the eve of their working day, the workers would be advised of their scheduled appointments and geographic locations. Tyco had calculated working time as only the time spent installing and servicing the security units at the customer premises. However, the workers argued that the time spent travelling to a customer’s premises, often in excess of two or three hours, did not count as rest periods and were therefore ‘working’.

The ruling made it clear that, for mobile workers with no fixed place of work, the time spent travelling between their homes and the premises of the first and last customers, as designated by their employer, constituted working time.

What are the considerations for your business?

• Travel time should be factored into a worker’s working time and contracted hours (if they do not have a fixed place of work).
• Careful planning should be given to the workers schedule to minimise the travelling time (and distance) at the start and end of the day.
• If company vehicles are collected from a fixed office/depot address at the start and end of the day then this is unaffected and does not constitute working time.

If you would like to discuss this further please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Tamar HR team. 

English skills support for Employees

Communication is an essential aspect within any business and language is the foundation of this. In this edition we have spoken to Debbie Rogers from the company: The English Teacher to discuss how the English courses she delivers, improves both business and staff prospects. This may be particularly useful for any companies who employ individuals where English is not their first language.

The English Teacher works with a variety of private companies and public sector industries to enhance their employees’ English skills. They design each course to clients’ specific needs and the requirements of the students and four skills are covered (reading, writing, speaking and listening). The English company can also enrol students for nationally recognised Functional Skills qualifications if desired. Special attention is paid to pronunciation and conversation.

There are a number of benefits in investing in English skills development and feedback shows that introducing English tuition promotes peer bonding and produces cohesive and focused teams. Students have found that their chances of career progression are greater with a good standard of spoken and written English and customer relations and in house communication improved immeasurably.

All course materials and resources are supplied free of charge, as is a placement level test. Each student is given a login for the website and they have their own resources page where exercises and activities will be placed. English support continues even after the course is ended and work will be regularly added to the resources section.

For more information, please contact Tamar HR, visit the English Teacher website – www.the-english-teacher.co.uk or email : debbie@the-english-teacher.co.uk.

Employment Law Update

Employment Law Update 

Employment Law Update

There are a number of employment law changes which take affect from 1^st October and a few recent developments. In addition to these, we have outlined changes which are approaching in 2016.

National Minimum Wage Increase

Just a quick reminder that as of 1^st October 2015, the national minimum wage for people over 21 will go up from £6.50ph to £6.70ph.

Age	From October 2015	2014-2015 rates
21 & Over	£6.70	£6.50
18 to 20	£5.30	£5.13
16-17	£3.87	£3.79
Apprentices *	£3.30	£2.73

*Apprentices (16-18 years and those aged 19 or over in their first year)

Implementation date: 1^st October 2015

Enforcement of the National Minimum Wage

From 1^st October 2015, tougher laws will be in force by the government for any companies who are not paying the national minimum wage to their workers.  Penalties have been doubled to 200% of the arrears owed up to a maximum of £20,000 per worker.  A new department in HMRC will be set up to identify and enforce the law on any employers that pay below the minimum wage.

Implementation date: 1^st October 2015

Ban on Exclusivity Clauses in Zero Hour Contracts

Just a quick reminder, since 26^th May 2015 employers are unable to enforce exclusivity on workers who are employed under a zero hours contract. This will allow any workers under a zero hours contract to work for another employer and thus giving them more control over their working hours and income. The ban on enforcing exclusivity is seen to redress poor employment practices and give the employee more freedom to boost their income. If you would like to discuss this with Tamar HR please do not hesitate to contact us.

Implementation date: this change was introduced on 26^th May 2015

Fit for Work Service – Referrals and Tax Exemption

Since 8^th September 2015, the government’s Fit for Work scheme was rolled out across England and Wales. The focus is to provide support for employees to get back to work after a period of long term sickness absence.  The scheme will be hugely beneficial for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) with little or no access to occupational health support.  To make a referral, the employee must have had, or be expected to have, more than four weeks of sickness absence. A £500 tax exemption (per employee, per year) will be granted towards the cost of medical treatment as recommended by the Fit for Work scheme or relevant health professional. The helpline number for free Fit for Work advice is 0800 032 6235, if you would like to discuss this further please contact one of the team at Tamar HR.

Implementation date: 8^th September 2015

Future Changes to start preparing for:

The New National Living Wage (April 2016)

From April 2016, a National Living Wage will be introduced to all workers over the age of 25. The new rate will be £7.20 per hour. This new rate is being implemented to drive the government initiative of a higher pay, lower welfare state. This is part of a long term programme aimed to increase the National Living Wage to £9.00 by 2020. We appreciate this will have a significant impact  on staffing budgets for clients who employ staff on the current minimum wage.  The changes are likely to impact more on businesses within retail, hospitality and the care industry.  It also has the potential to impact on the difference between the lowest paid workers in your business and the first level of supervisory role.  Given the significant impact of these changes it is timely to review your staffing structures in advance of these changes.    Tamar HR will be pleased to undertake a full review so that you are planning ahead and building capability ahead of the full implementation of the National Living Wage between now and 2020.

Tribunal Fees Set to Continue

There has been a decline in the number of employment tribunal claims since the introduction of Tribunal Claim fees in July 2013, Unison recently lost a further appeal for the fees to be abolished.  The cost of bringing an employment tribunal claim can vary from £390 to £1200 depending on the type of claim.  You will be aware that ACAS offer an ‘early conciliation’ service to try and avoid Tribunal claims, where both parties agree to engage in settlement discussions.  Early conciliation rates have increased which is good news to employers and employees alike. Early conciliation can be far less costly, time consuming and stressful with the main aim of settling disputes earlier than going to Tribunal. 

Shared Parental Leave

Family-friendly leave entitlements can become complex. 

Shared Parental Leave came into force at the end of 2014 and provides parents with more flexibility in regards to how they take leave during the first year of their child’s life/adoption and will allow them to be on leave at the same time for more than 2 weeks. However, the new entitlements are not straightforward and in this article we look at what this means for employers.

What is the current entitlement?

Workers in the UK are entitled to 28 days (5.6 weeks) a year paid holiday, if they work full time for five days a week. Part-time workers are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata. Self-employed workers are not entitled to any annual leave. If you leave your job with holiday leave outstanding, your employer should pay this back to you. The UK Government states that employers should use basic pay to calculate how much a worker earns whilst taking annual leave. This was defined in the Working Time Regulations Act of 1998 and means that commission and overtime are not included when calculating holiday pay.

The is an issue however, there is discrepancy between the UK and the European Working Time Directive, as the latter doesn’t specify how holiday pay should be calculated. Up until now, the UK Government has interpreted the directive as saying that holiday pay should be an employee’s basic rate of pay, therefore not including regular overtime. 

How do the new entitlements affect employers?

This will mean new policies, new forms, more administration and less certainty when members of staff are expecting a child. Employers who currently offer enhanced maternity schemes should consider treating Shared Parental Leave in the same way. The position is currently unclear as to whether it would be sex discrimination not to do so and this has lead to some employers are already considering doing away with enhanced schemes.

Will it affect the current maternity, paternity and adoption leave provisions?

For eligible parents, they will need “opt-in” so the current maternity and adoption leave provisions will apply unless the parents choose to take Shared Parental Leave. The 2 weeks ordinary paternity leave will remain available to fathers/partners, but they will no longer have the option to take additional paternity leave. This is unlikely to upset many as less than 1% of those who could have taken it, actually took it.

Who decides how the leave is allocated?

It will be up to the parents to choose how they divide the leave which includes up to 50 weeks of Shared Parental Leave and 37 weeks of Shared Parental Pay.

The existing regulation which requires the mother to still have 2 weeks of compulsory maternity will still apply.

Who is entitled to Shared Parental Leave?

The scheme is not only available to families where both parents are employed but also to those where one parent is employed and the other is classed as “economically active”, which only requires a low level of earnings.

How does shared parental leave work?

To take shared parental leave, the mother would need to provide a “curtailment notice” giving her employer 8 weeks’ notice of the end of her maternity leave, she would also have to provide a “notice of entitlement” to prove that she is entitled to Shared Parental Leave along with an indication of when she would like to take her share of the Shared Parental Leave.

The father/partner must also provide notice of entitlement and intention to take Shared Parental Leave on his/her employer.

It is important that these notices contain several details along with declarations from each parent confirming, among many other points that they agree to the amount of leave that the other parent is taking.

Both parents would then provide their employer with details of the other parent’s employer and also standard evidence of entitlement such as a birth certificate or adoption papers.

When the parents have confirmed their plans to take their share of the entitlement, they have to provide a period of leave notice to their employer, with at least 8 weeks’ notice before the start of the first period of leave.

How can leave be taken?

Leave can be taken in a single block or in multiple blocks of complete weeks. If one block of leave has been requested, then the employer must agree. If multiple periods of leave have been requested then the employer will have two weeks to either agree, propose an alternative or refuse the request. If the request for multiple periods of leave is refused then the parent has to be allowed to take their leave in a single block.



If you would like to know more about shared parental leave, please don’t hesitate to contact one of the team here at Tamar HR.

How will the new Holiday Pay Ruling affect me?

What were the cases about?

Earlier this year, this discrepancy between British and EU law was highlighted when a British Gas worker took his case to the European Court of Justice. His normal pay was made up of basic pay and sales commission, yet he was only receiving his basic pay whilst on holiday. 

Additionally, employees from the companies Bear Scotland, Amec and Hertel all appeared before the UK employment appeal tribunal, questioning their holiday payments too. They called for their holiday pay to include overtime and commission – which is in line with their average earnings.

What was the decision?

The tribunal ruled in the employees’ favour, deciding that article 7 of the Working Time Directive meant that in these cases, overtime was part of the workers' “normal” earnings and therefore should be included when calculating holiday pay.

The ruling has set a precedent for how employers’ holiday pay should now be calculated, and with millions of workers in the UK regularly working paid overtime, it’s a change that could have a massive effect.

What does this mean?

The ruling will not result in an immediate payment of years of missed pay. The Employment Appeal Tribunal has put limits on backdated claims, if there has been a break of more than three months between successive underpayments – this could mean employees can only make a claim if they have taken a holiday in the previous three months.

There is still the possibility of the companies involved appealing the decision. The cases could then be referred to the EU courts or Court of Appeal for clarification on how the European law should now be interpreted.

What should employers do?

Holiday pay must now reflect the worker’s actual normal earnings rather than just basic salary. If a worker’s earnings vary, the holiday pay should be based on an average of their actual earnings calculated over a 12-week period.

If you would like to know more about holiday pay please don’t hesitate to contact one of the team here at Tamar HR.

Zero Hours Contracts

The General Election  bought the issue of zero hours contracts being used by employers to the political arena. From all this, it has been difficult to separate fact from fiction, so here are the most common questions asked about zero hours contracts:

What are they?

When an employee is engaged on a zero hours basis, the employer does not have to offer any work to the worker and the worker does not have to accept it. For example, Andrea works as a waitress for an events company, when there is work they call her to see if she is available and whether she wants to work at certain events.

Employees with zero hours contracts are still employees and still have rights to annual leave and national minimum wage, protection from discrimination, and as individuals work, they accrue 'continuous service' which counts towards employment rights such as redundancy pay.

Different industries tend to lend themselves to the use of zero hours contracts, for example in hospitality where work is often seasonal with periods of work appearing in peaks and troughs.

What is the issue with zero hours contracts?

The issue with zero hours contracts is that as there is no obligation to offer work, which means that a worker could be working one week and not the next, this creates uncertainty as an employee cannot depend on a regular income. Exclusivity clauses have also been a cause of concern as these limit an employee working for another employer whilst potentially not offering any hours themselves, therefore restricting an individual’s ability to earn a wage. Many individuals enjoy the flexibility these contracts offer, for example students that have differing periods of availability throughout the week.

Are employees aware they are on a zero hours contract?

An employee on a zero hours contract may take regular hours but then complain when an employer does not offer them work when they want it. A clear zero hours contract making clear the nature of the working relationship and obligations for both employer and employee will be very helpful.  A worker can be regarded as an 'employee' if there is a regular pattern of work and the parties come to rely on each other.

Employers should ensure that they provide a clear statement in the employment contract that explains what the zero contract is and the circumstances where an employee may not receive work, as this will clear any issues that may arise from the outset as the employee will be clear about what they are entering into.

Can an employer prevent a worker from working elsewhere?

As part of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, exclusivity clauses were prohibited from 26^th May 2015 and this measure means that staff who are contracted on a zero hours basis can work for more than one business without being dismissed or disciplined.

This looks to be a fair compromise on the arguments presented as many saw an outright on ban on zero hours contracts as an unfair decision on the many individuals that enjoy the flexibility these contracts offer. 

Conclusion

Zero hours contracts have their place and provide flexibility to both the employer and worker. However, in the spirit of trying to reduce disputes, having clear documentation and communication with employees on zero hours contracts is essential.   

If you would like to know more about zero hours contracts, please don’t hesitate to contact one of the team here at Tamar HR.

Auto-enrolment Update

You will now be aware that the law on workplace pensions has changed. Every employer in the UK with at least one member of staff now has a duty to ensure employees meeting a certain criteria are enrolled into a workplace pension scheme. In addition both employers and employees are obligated to make contributions into the pension scheme.

Auto-enrolment has been rolling out across the UK since 2012 and millions of employees are now up and running in a pension scheme. Between now and May 2017 the focus will be on businesses with a number of employees between 1 and 50, with each individual business having a unique ‘staging date’ depending on the number of people employed.

Developing and implementing a plan for Auto-enrolment can take between 6 - 18 months to complete effectively, so if you do not already have provisions in place, the Team at Tamar HR will be happy to provide you with the details of how you can comply with the new legislation. It’s also worth mentioning that auto-enrolment is not optional for employers and there is a legal requirement to comply, so don’t get caught out by leaving it too late. There is plenty of help available out there and we would be happy to point you in the right direction.

Staging Date

In case you are unaware of your ‘staging date’, the information below will help you to find this out. The best way to think of a ‘staging date’ is the date at which the law will apply to your business.

To find your staging date, simply visit the Pension Regulator website at www.thepensionregulator.gov.uk and click on the ‘Find out your staging date’ section. You will be presented with a box like the one pictured below and all you need to do is enter your PAYE reference to be provided with your specific date.

Once you know your staging date you can begin to think about your preparations for auto-enrolment and how to comply with your duties as an employer.

If you would like to know more about auto enrolment please don’t hesitate to contact one of the team here at Tamar HR.

Legal Updates: 2015

As we are rapidly speeding through 2014 we are looking forward at Law changes expected in 2015

Parental Leave
The right to unpaid parental leave will be extended to parents of any child under the age of 18 years. Currently this leave can only be taken up to a child’s 5^th birthday unless a child has a disability.

Surrogate parents eligible for adoption leave

Currently the law does not allow intended parents in a surrogacy arrangement the right to adoption leave or pay but they may qualify for parental leave. It does however permit that the surrogate, full maternity leave and pay as according to UK law what a mother does after a child is born has no impact on her right to maternity leave. 

In 2015 the law is due to change and provided they meet the criteria, intended parents who have a child through surrogacy will be entitled to paternity leave and pay, adoption leave and pay and shared parental leave and pay. Furthermore both intended parents will be allowed to take unpaid time off to attend 2 antenatal classes with the woman carrying the child.

School leave age rises to 18

During 2015 the school leave age will rise to 18. Children born on or after 1 September 1997 can leave school on the last Friday in June as long as they are 16 by the end of that year’s summer school holiday but will have to stay in some form of education or training until their 18^th Birthday.

The options are:

full-time education - e.g. at a school or college

• an apprenticeship or traineeship
• part-time education or training - as well as being employed, self-employed or volunteering for 20 hours or more a week

For employers this may affect the amount of hours 16-18 years olds can work to allow them to complete training or study. It could also open up further opportunity for apprenticeships within companies.

Disciplinary Appeal: Manager’s authority

Disciplinary Appeal: Manager’s authority

Employees have the right to appeal to a disciplinary outcome.

A recent case from the Court of Appeal has drawn our attention to a manager’s authority to increase sanction following an appeal investigation, for example from a written warning to a dismissal.  The case was raised when an employee of the NHS Trust was issued with a final written warning;  she exercised her right to appeal the penalty but during the investigation  process feared the initial penalty may be raised to dismissal and attempted to withdraw her appeal.

She was granted an injunction by the Court of Appeal to prevent the NHS Trust from reconvening and considering an appeal sanction.  The Court of Appeal made this decision based on the non-statutory guidance given in the relevant ACAS guide in which it states that an appeal “should not result in any increase in penalty as this may deter individuals from appealing”.

Using this advice, the Court deemed therefore that the Trusts Disciplinary policy did not grant them authority to raise that sanction on appeal.  

TAMAR HR VIEWPOINT:  Following this case Tamar feels that appeals should always be beneficial to the employee and the outcomes of an appeal should not result in a more severe penalty.

Therefore we are looking to review our disciplinary policy by making it clear that the options open to an appeal panel are to either:

·         Accept the appeal and remove or reduce the sanction given

·         Reject the appeal and leave the original sanction in place.

Is Obesity a Disability?

Is Obesity a Disability?

In 2010, a Danish Child-minder with a BMI of 54 and weight of 25 stone was dismissed from his position in local government.  It was deemed that he was unable to fulfil his duties adequately after reportedly being unable to bend down to tie shoelaces.  The Claimant, Mr Kaltoft put forward a case for unfair dismissal on account that he had been discriminated against due to his weight.

In early July 2014 the Danish courts asked the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to clarify if obesity could, in fact, be considered as a disability. The ruling has not been decided but it seems likely that extreme, severe or morbid obesity (BMI of 40 or over) could soon fall under the umbrella of disability.

How will this effect UK firms?

UK law does not currently recognise obesity as a disability but this may soon change depending on the outcome of the ECJ ruling. The cause of a disability is irrelevant; it does not matter whether can be held responsible for their obesity. Therefore under the Equality Act 2010, UK firms would be required to make reasonable adjustments for morbidly disabled workers if their obesity affects their ability to work at full capacity. Businesses may need to look at ways of supporting their obese employees, for example having parking spaced near to office entrances, providing special desks or reducing the need to walk or travel in job roles.

What can Employers do to prevent, support and manage obesity currently?

According to statistics 25% of UK adults are obese, obesity is associated with greater health risks and research suggests that it can result in more frequent short and long term absences from work. Therefore it is in our interest to manage and support our staff regardless of potential changes to EU Law.

Having a good ethos towards healthy eating and wellbeing in a company’s culture is positive to instil in all colleagues regardless of weight.  Simple wellbeing initiatives can be extended to all employees and can help to create a supporting environment throughout the company.  Here are some simple and un-costly ideas to encourage a healthier workforce:

1) Encourage employees to take a walk at lunch time

2) Encourage workers to take the time to eat properly

3) Prevent buying sugary treats for employees like Cakes and Sweets

4) Have a ‘Healthy tip of the week’ on boards in communal areas, for example healthy lunch recipes or easy exercise tips.

5) If there are a group of employees willing: make a group weight loss challenge. Participants could state their weight loss goals and encourage each other to collectively meet them.

TAMAR HR VIEWPOINT

Although this is not yet UK Law we would encourage employers to be proactive towards employees with high BMI to ensure reasonable adjustments are made to help them in their ability to complete a job but also to create a healthy culture and encourage all employees to take time to look after themselves.

Minimum Wage: The 10 worst excuses for non-payment

It was announced back in March that the minimum wage would again be increased from October 2014 and with this in mind we came across an interesting article by Rob Moss from ‘Personnel Today’, that we thought we would share with you.

 

The national minimum wage is 15 years old this week, and to coincide HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has revealed what it believes are the 10 worst excuses given by employers in the past year for paying below the threshold.

One employer claimed that a worker was his wife, but then had to ask her name. Another claimed that their employees did not speak English, so were not entitled to the minimum wage. Others simply denied that the employee worked there at all.

 

The national minimum wage sets minimum hourly rates that employers must pay their workers. The main rate increases to £6.50 per hour in October 2014.

Jennie Granger, HMRC’s director general of enforcement and compliance, said: “Most employers are honest and pay their staff the correct rate. But this research shows that some still view the national minimum wage as a choice, and will even try these crazy excuses to avoid paying workers what they are due.”

 

Top 10 worst excuses

 

1.  An employer said a woman was not entitled to the minimum wage because she was his wife. When asked what his wife’s name was, the employer said: “Err, her name? What’s your name, love?”

 

2. “My employees don’t speak English, so they’re not entitled to it,” was another reason.

 

3.  An employee ran out of the premises when HMRC officers arrived to check for national minimum wage infringements. The same employee then returned – minus the work pinafore – with the employer claiming that they were a customer.

 

4.  One employer told HMRC: “When the national minimum wage goes up I do increase the amount I pay a little, even if the total pay is still below the national minimum wage. I don’t think it’s right to ignore rises in the national minimum wage.”

 

5.  Upon inspection, an employer told HMRC: “I know I am paying them too little, but they are happy to work for this amount because they are getting experience.”

 

6.  An employer said his employee was just working for a few days, with a view to buying the business. When HMRC checked, the employee’s name was found on historic food temperature records.

 

7.  An employer claimed they realised they were not paying employees the national minimum wage and had just this week increased their income to a new hourly rate – which was still below the minimum wage.

 

8.  An employer told HMRC: “It wasn’t a conscious decision to say ‘I’m not going to pay this’, but I’ve never really considered doing it because I’ve not had people come to me and say, ‘I’m not getting paid enough’ or ‘Is this the minimum wage?’”

 

9.  Another employer claimed an employee was just a friend, and only in the restaurant as they were in the area. HMRC officers returned another day to find the employee in the kitchen preparing food.

 

10.  A number of employers claimed that accommodation they provided workers made up for their shortfall in wages.

 

HMRC said its investigations last year resulted in more than 26,000 people getting a share of £4 million in back pay.

Rob Moss, 3^rd April 2014

 

Tamar HR’s View

Although this is a light hearted look at this issue, HMRC do take compliance very seriously and the penalties for employers who breach National Minimum Wage can reach up £20,000 per employee.   HMRC have the power to name and shame any employer who fails to pay the minimum wage, which could be seriously damaging for  businesses with the negative publicity and could also affect your ability to attract the best talent when recruiting. The businesses we work with take their responsibilities in this area very seriously and Tamar HR is always happy to advise further.  If you would like any further advice on the national minimum wage rates or the upcoming changes, or on your business pay, benefits and rewards more generally, please don’t hesitate to speak to one of the team at Tamar HR.

7 Key questions answered about Early Conciliation

This is part  of the Government reforms under the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 and aimed to cut the £74 million pound cost to run the Employment Tribunal service each year. The second part of the reforms saw the introduction of Early Conciliation, a new service provided by ACAS which went live on 6^th April 2014. This new service aims to help settle disputes between employers and employees without the need to go to court.

The new scheme means that anyone wishing to make an employment tribunal claim will first need to notify ACAS by completing an ‘early conciliation notification form’. This will be a legal requirement from 6^th May 2014 before a claimant can proceed with their claim to the Employment Tribunal.

1) How much will it cost the business?

The service provided by ACAS is free. The aim of the service is to open up dialog between the employee/claimant and employer to try and find a resolution to the dispute. If a resolution can be found, any settlement may have a cost implication for the business; however this approach aims to avoid expensive legal fees that are often involved with traditional settlement agreements.

 

2) Do I have to engage with early conciliation if contacted by ACAS?

For many employers being contacted by ACAS will be the first time they are made aware that their employee or former employee intends to make a claim.  We would always recommend that you gather as much information as possible from the ACAS conciliator, so that you can review your options in more detail. You will not be required to make immediate decisions should you be contacted by ACAS, so take some time and further advice from Tamar HR before you open up any detailed discussions.

 

3) How long will this process take?

Upon receiving the ‘early conciliation notification form’ ACAS will have a period of 1 calendar month to seek to resolve the dispute and will contact both parties quickly after receiving a request. Employers need to be aware that this time period will ‘stop the clock’ in relation to the 3 month period that an employee has to submit an unfair dismissal claim to the Employment Tribunal. If a resolution is close as the month is drawing to a close, there is an option to extend this period by a further 2 weeks should all parties agree to this.

4) Don’t ACAS always take the side of the employee/claimant?

ACAS has been designed to be an impartial service that does not represent either the employee or employer. Their main focus is to advise on the dispute resolution.

5) Who will ACAS contact in our business?

The claimant will name a point of contact on the ‘early conciliation notification form’, so be aware that this will not always be the business owner or a Director of the business. It could be the individual’s Line Manager or Supervisor. We recommend that you brief all your Managers and Supervisors on the correct procedure to follow and who they should inform if they are ever contacted by ACAS.

6) What happens if we reach an agreement?

If a resolution is reached, the ACAS conciliator will prepare a settlement agreement known as a COT3. This will be a legally binding document that will need to be signed by all parties and once complete will restrict the claimant from making any further Tribunal claims on that matter.

7) What happens if we can’t reach an agreement?

If no resolution can be agreed within the time limit or extended period, then early conciliation will come to an end. The claimant will then be free to make a claim to the Employment Tribunal.

The Tamar HR view

Although initially Early Conciliation was seen by employers as another hoop to jump through,  this is an important process which aims to avoid a dispute going to the Employment Tribunal. Since the introduction of the Tribunal fees the number of claims has fallen by nearly 80%, so it will be interesting to see if this figure varies over the coming months with Early Conciliation up and running. If you would like further details on Early Conciliation or advice on how to prepare your team for a call from ACAS, please don’t hesitate to contact us here at Tamar HR.

Auto-Enrolment

Last month we provided you with advice on establishing your company’s staging date for auto-enrolment. This is the important first step to planning for auto-enrolment.   This guidance sets out the next steps once your staging date is confirmed.

Assessing your workforce

All employers with 250 employees or less will have to comply between April 2014 and May 2017.  It is important to assess your workforce in order to understand the worker categories for auto enrolment. 

What is a worker?

Your duties as an employer extend to all workers within your business, but not as far as contractors or self-employed individuals who may be working with you for a limited period. A ‘worker’ is defined by the contractual agreement that you have in place with an individual and as a general rule individuals are likely to be considered a worker if they:

·    Work under a contract of employment, or

·    Have a contract to perform work or services personally and  not undertaking the work as   part of their own business.

There are often many types of workers within each organisation, including permanent, temporary, fixed term and casual. 

Worker categories for auto-enrolment

Workers will be organised into 1 of 3 groups for auto-enrolment purposes and you will need to ensure that you have the following details for each member of your team:

•       The workers age

•       Whether the worker is working or normally works in the UK or overseas

•       The workers earnings

This information will place each individual worker into one of the auto-enrolment categories listed below:

Earnings	Age
	16 - 21	22 - State pension age	State pension age - 74
Less than £5,772	Entitled Worker
Between £5,773 - £10,000	Non-eligible Jobholder
£10,000+	Non-eligible Jobholder	Eligible Jobholder	Non-eligible Jobholder

1. Eligible Jobholder

•       This category of worker will be automatically enrolled

•       Employee has right to ‘opt out’

•       Employer MUST make the minimum contributions

 2. Non-eligible Jobholder

•       Will not be automatically enrolled

•       Employee has right to ‘opt in’

•       Employer MUST make minimum contributions

3. Entitled Worker

•       Will not be automatically enrolled

•       Employee has right to apply

•       Employer NOT required to make contributions

Tamar HR’s view

Generally most employers will already have the required information in place through their payroll systems, but if not it’s a good opportunity to update your records.

Many payroll systems will automatically determine the relevant categories.  Your chosen pension provider may also provide advice. Different pension providers will offer different levels of support, so it’s worth doing some research on the available options and take advice from a financial advisor to ensure that you are getting the best scheme that is available to your business.

 
Next month we will be taking a look at the contribution levels for auto-enrolment and making you aware of both the employer and employee percentages both now and in the future. This can help with financial planning and forecasting.  If you would like to discuss auto-enrolment for your business in more detail, please don’t hesitate to contact Matt at Tamar HR, who will be happy to provide you with support.