The Government has published its response to the consultation of ‘Retained EU employment law reforms’. The original consultation was seeking views on reforms to the Working Time Regulations (WTR) 1998, holiday pay and the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE). The consultation ran from 12 May to 7 July 2023. The Government also responded to the consultation on calculating annual leave entitlement for part-year and irregular hour workers following Harper Trust v Brazel [2022].
Holiday pay
The Government will introduce ‘rolled-up’ holiday pay, which allows workers to receive an enhanced amount to their regular pay when they take annual leave. This will only apply to those who work irregular hours or are/were part-year workers.
The Government decided not to take forward the proposal to put in place a single annual leave entitlement. There are differences in the calculation of holiday pay for the four weeks’ leave mandated by the EU and the 1.6 weeks’ set by the WTR, which we deal with in our previous article – https://joneschase.com/2023/07/changes-to-working-time-regulations-holiday-pay-and-tupe-regulations-uk-employment-law-post-brexit/. The Government preferred to keep these two distinct allocations of annual leave.
The Government has also confirmed that the carry over of annual leave in various circumstances such as sickness etc, under EU law, will be restated and ‘normal pay’ under regulation 13 WTR will be defined.
Harpur Trust ruling
The Government has decided to introduce the rate of 12.07% of hours worked to calculate annual leave for individuals that work part-year and irregular hours. The 12.07% will be calculated at 12.07% of pay in a pay period (i.e. over a period of one month if the individual is paid monthly).
The consultation did originally focus on introducing a 52-week reference period; however, a large number of employers stated their concerns with the potential administrative issues this would create and the effect this would have on workers with less than 52-weeks length of service.
The Government’s response also confirms they will retain various pieces of EU case law that they consider necessary for protecting workers rights. They will also introduce a method of annual leave accrual for individuals working irregular hours and for part of the year when they are on family related leave or sick leave.
Change to record keeping
Businesses will no longer have to keep records of a workers daily working hours, which will see a change from the record-keeping requirements under the WTR.
TUPE
Small businesses (those with less than 50 employees), or transfers involving less than 10 employees (for any size business), will not be required to consult with an employee representative if there is not one currently in place at the time of the transfer. It will allow the employer to consult with employees directly on an individual basis.
Please see the consultation outcome from the Department for Business and Trade in full here https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/retained-eu-employment-law-reforms.
If you would like more information on the retained EU employment law reforms, feel free to get in touch with the team. We are always happy to speak to people and point them in the right direction.
Jones Chase is a specialist employment law firm based in the centre of London with an excellent track record of looking after those that we assist.