Recent developments in the UK
Employment law is always changing, and keeping up with it is a lot of work. Thankfully, our team is always working to stay abreast of the latest changes, so you don’t have to. Here are some of the newest developments in the UK
Paid leave for parents of children requiring neonatal care (2025)
The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act (2023) introduces new statutory leave provisions for parents of babies who require specialist neonatal care after their birth. Under the new rules, parents will be able to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave, in addition to any other parental leave that they are already entitled to (such as maternity, paternity or shared parental leave). The Act is expected to come into force in April 2025.
Fewer restrictions on flexible work requests (2024)
The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 came into force in April 2024, and brought in important changes to employees’ rights to request flexible working arrangements in the UK. Most notably, employees can now request different types of flexible work from their first day of employment. This includes requests for remote work, flexi-time, job shares, and reduced or compressed hours. Under the new rules, employers have two months to respond to a request, and have to consult with the employee in question if they want to reject it.
The right to a predictable work pattern (2024)
The Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Bill (2024) will amend the Employment Rights Act 1996 to give workers with atypical contracts the right to request a more predictable work pattern. This bill will impact people such as fixed-term workers, agency workers and those working under zero-hour contracts. These employees will have the right to make up to two requests per year once the new rules come in. There is currently no implementation date for this Bill, but it’s expected to come into force in September 2024.
Increased redundancy protections for pregnant employees and parents (2024)
The Pregnancy and Family Leave Act 2023 came into effect in April 2024. Prior to this change, employers already had to offer employees on maternity leave, adoption leave, or shared parental leave a suitable alternative position if their role was made redundant during their leave. Under the new rules, this right is also extended to employees who are pregnant but have not yet gone on leave, and to employees who have recently returned from maternity leave, adoption leave or shared parental leave.
Additional leave for employees with care responsibilities (2024)
The Carer’s Leave Act (2023) aims to provide better support for employees who are responsible for caring for a long-term dependent. Under the new rules, these employees will have a statutory right to a week’s flexible unpaid leave every year to enable them to meet their caring responsibilities. This legislation came into effect in April 2024 and is expected to impact at least two million employees in the UK.
