This update to our previous article on the 2021 Employment Law Changes, incorporates recent developments, including the fact that no Employment Bill was included in the Queen's Speech on the 11th May 2021, and is unlikely to be introduced before 2022.
2021 Employment Law Changes
The 2021 employment law changes are as follows:-
- 1st January 2021 – The new post Brexit immigration system came into force
- 26th February 2021 – The Government’s consultation on whether post termination non-compete clauses should be reformed, or even abolished, ended. The Government’s response to the consultation is expected in the summer
- 1st April 2021 – Increases in the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage
- 4th April 2021 – Increases in Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Paternity Pay, Shared Parental Pay, Adoption Pay, Maternity Allowance, and Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay
- 6th April 2021 – Increase in Statutory Sick Pay
- 6th April 2021 – Increase in the statutory cap on a weeks pay for the purposes of calculating the basic award and statutory redundancy pay
- 6th April 2021 – The extension of IR35 to medium and large sized businesses in the private sector took effect
- 30th June 2021 – EU Settlement Scheme deadline. EU nationals who were resident in the UK by the 31st December 2020, must apply for Settled Status by the 30th June 2021, or lose their opportunity
- 30th September 2021 – The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ends
- 30th September 2021 – Deadline for applying for the incentive payment for hiring new apprentices
- 4th October 2021 at midnight – Deadline for gender pay gap reporting by public sector employers, private sector employers, and voluntary organisations
- 31st December 2021 – Hiring end date under the Government’s Kickstart Scheme.
Beyond The 2021 Employment Law Changes
The following is a list of changes which will occur beyond the 2021 employment law changes:-
- 2022 at the earliest – The new Employment Bill that was announced in the 2019 Queens Speech was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, but it was anticipated that it would be introduced sometime in the Queen's Speech on the 11th May 2021. Nevertheless, the Employment Bill did not appear in the Queen's Speech, with the BBC reporting that: “Downing Street said an Employment Bill would be introduced “when the time is right”, citing the pandemic as the reason for the delay.” Accordingly, it is now highly unlikely that there will be any new Employment Bill before 2022 at the earliest.
- 2022 – The extension of protection against redundancy re pregnancy, maternity, adoption, and shared parental leave
- 2023 – Neonatal leave and pay
Other Potential Future Changes
Other potential changes that may take place beyond the 2021 employment law changes, include the following:-
- Carers leave. A consultation was launched in March 2020, which closed in August 2020, in relation to a potential new right for employees with caring responsibilities to take a week’s unpaid leave per year. The proposal is likely to be included in the government’s anticipated Employment Bill.
- New legislation has been promised by the Government to ensure that tips left by customers in restaurants are retained by staff in full, and are not either partially or wholly taken off them by their employers.
- Ethnicity pay gap reporting
- New rules on publishing modern slavery statements
- A new right for workers to request a more stable contract after 26 weeks service
- The extension of time required to break a period of continuous service from one week to four weeks
- The establishment of a new single enforcement body for employment rights
2021 Employment Law Changes: The Impact Of The EU Trade Deal
Within the new Brexit trade deal with the EU, there is what is known as a ‘non-regression clause’ in which there is a commitment by both sides not to reduce or weaken employment law rights that were in place as at the 31st December 2020, in a manner that would have a detrimental impact upon trade and investment. This applies to not only employment law, but also health and safety law, working conditions, consultation rights, the transport of goods, and company restructures.
Whilst the non-regression clause restricts the ability of the UK to make many major changes to its employment law, it only does so where that has a impact on trade and investment. Nevertheless, all of this will clearly have an impact in terms of what will ultimately turn up in the Government’s Employment Bill. Hence, expect no major surprises as regards any 2021 employment law changes or later employment law changes via any new Employment Bill, especially as Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, recently announced that there would be no formal review of workers rights. Moreover, the fact that there was no Employment Bill in the Queen's Speech at all, and that Government appear to be unenthusiastic about pursuing an Employment Bill, is indicative that that there are unlikely to be any major changes.
