As we move towards the end of the year, here is a round-up of the new employment law changes coming into force in 2022:
Increase in National Insurance Contributions
April 2022 will see a rise of 1.25% in National Insurance Contributions, applying to all working adults in the UK and matched by employers, with tax rates on shared dividends being raised by the same amount. From 2023, this will become a separate tax on earned income, calculated in the same way as National Insurance and appearing on an employee’s payslip as a Health and Social Care Levy.
Increase in National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage
The National Living Wage will rise from £8.91 per hour to £9.50 in April 2022. The uplift is more than twice the 3.1% increase in the cost of living and results in a minimum wage increase of 6.6% for all those aged 23 and over. The minimum rates for younger workers will also rise.
The National Minimum Wage will also rise from £8.36 an hour to £9.18 an hour for those aged 21 to 22; from £6.56 to £6.83 for those aged 18 to 20; from £4.62 to £4.81 for under 18s; and from £4.30 to £4.81 an hour for apprentices.
Changes to flexible working
The Government is currently consulting on reforms to the Flexible Working Regulations 2014 to reflect changing attitudes to flexible working. The consultation looks at:
- Making the right to request flexible working a ‘day one right’,
- Changing the administrative process regarding frequency of requests and time to respond,
- Validating whether the eight prescribed business reasons that employers can put forward to reject a flexible working request are still fit for purpose,
- Requiring employers that have concluded that a request cannot be accommodated to show that they have considered possible alternative working arrangements, and;
- Raising awareness that it is possible for employers to agree to temporary flexible working arrangements.
Entitlement to carer’s leave
The government has announced its intention to introduce an entitlement to carer’s leave as a ‘day one right’ for employees, with unpaid carers able to take up to five working days of unpaid leave per year in individual day or half-day increments. Carers will need to give notice of twice the length of the time being requested as leave, plus one day (in line with annual leave notice). Employees can self-certificate and evidence of entitlement will not be required.
New legislation to ensure that tips and gratuities go to staff
The Government intends to introduce legislation to prevent employers from taking tips and gratuities that should go to staff. The Government response to the consultation on tipping, gratuities, cover, and service charges states that legislative measures will include:
- A requirement for employers not to make any deductions from tips received by their staff, including admin charges, other than those required by tax law,
- A requirement for employers to distribute tips in a way that is fair and transparent, with a written policy on tips, and a record of how tips have been dealt with,
- Provisions to allow workers to make a request for information relating to an employer’s tipping record, and;
- A requirement for employers to have regard to a statutory code of practice on tipping.
Other developments
In addition to the above, there are still changes recommended by the Good Work Plan of 2019 that are yet to be progressed. These may receive attention in 2022 in preparation for the long-promised
Employment Bill and include:
- The establishment of a new single enforcement agency for employment rights such as rights to SSP and enforcing Tribunal Awards,
- Extended redundancy protection for workers on maternity, adoption, and shared parental leave,
- Neonatal leave and pay for parents of premature babies,
- The right for casual workers to request a more predictable working pattern after 26 weeks service and compensation for last minute shift cancellations,
- Extensions of the amount of time needed to break a period of continuous service from one week to four weeks, and;
- The requirement for organisations to publish their modern slavery statements on a government registry.
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