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Legal Services
Changes to employment law
In April, the Government introduced a number of new changes to employment law in the UK. Chamberlink explores some of these new laws and what impact the changes may have on businesses.
Gender pay gap reporting For the first time, all private, public and voluntary sector organisations with 250 or more employees are required to publish their gender pay gap information. This means that employers must release information regarding employee pay, in addition to the business’ pay distribution between male and female employees. While the regulations for gender
pay gap reporting have not been finalised, the deadline for the first report is expected to be in early April 2018, based on pay and bonus data from the 2016/17 financial year.
Apprenticeship levy The apprenticeship levy, which has been designed to fund apprenticeship training, came into effect in April. If an employer has a paybill of more than £3m, they are now required to pay monthly levy contributions via PAYE. Employers in England will be able to access funding, plus a Government top-up of ten per cent, to pay for training provided by accredited training providers, accessed through a new digital service. Although the levy applies across the UK, different arrangements for funding apply in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Although smaller organisations
are not required to pay the levy, they will still be able to receive funding for apprenticeships by contributing ten per cent towards the cost with the Government paying the remaining cost.
Changes to rules for employing foreign workers Employers sponsoring foreign workers in possession of a tier 2 visa are now required to pay an immigration skills charge of £1,000 per worker (or £364 for small businesses or charities.) This skills charge is in addition to the current fees for visa applications. In addition, the minimum salary
threshold for ‘experienced’ workers applying for a tier 2 visa has increased to £30,000; however,
44 CHAMBERLINK May 2017
new entrants and some health and education staff may be exempt from the threshold until 2019.
General Data Protection Regulation Although the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) does not come into force until May 2018, the vast scope of changes proposes means it should be a high priority for employers this year. To best prepare, employers will need to carry out audits of all employee personal data they collect to make
sure it meets GDPR conditions for employee consent. New record-keeping
requirements will also mean that employers will need to create policies (or amend existing ones) on how the company will process privacy notices and handle data breach responses and subject access requests. As the GDPR will come into
effect before the UK officially exits the EU, organisations that are not compliant by May 2018 risk fines of up to €20m or four per cent of
annual worldwide turnover, whichever is higher.
Additional changes A number of additional changes have also come into effect, including the restriction of salary-sacrifice schemes, the aligning of the national living wage and the national minium wage and the increase of the weekly rate of statutory maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental pay. It is important for businesses to be aware of these changes and plan accordingly.
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