Legal update


are more hesitant to take on new recruits and adopt more rigorous recruitment processes, in order to ensure selection of the right candidate, thus stagnating rather than boosting the labour market. It could also lead to employers being


tempted to recruit only from pools it regards as lower risk, such as people already known by existing management from past employment or with whom there are personal connections. This could have a negative impact on diversity initiatives that an organisation would ordinarily wish to drive forwards with.


Day one rights for statutory sick pay Another of the government’s proposals under the ERB is to introduce day one rights for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). While this change may be welcomed by those working in the care industry, the additional staffing costs are expected to place a huge financial burden on care providers, who already operate within very tight margins and potentially impacting on their ability to deliver appropriate standards of care. Another concern is that payment of SSP from day one of absence, could see an increase in employees taking ‘duvet days’ or ‘pulling a sickie’, ultimately leading to an increase in short term intermittent absences, which can be difficult for employers to cover, as well as being disruptive to the continuity of care that is being provided. Employers will therefore be wise to tighten up their sickness absence processes and ensure that absences are monitored and dealt with more stringently by line managers to discourage staff from taking more sick leave as a result of this change.


Zero-hours contracts Many care providers are often forced to rely on zero-hours contracts, due to a lack of funding from Local Authorities. This working arrangement is typically relied upon by approximately three per cent of people employed in the UK, mostly in the hospitality, health, and social care sectors. In the healthcare sector, particularly social care, zero-hours and other casual work contracts are widely used to manage fluctuating patient needs – meeting the requirements to provide a 24/7 service, and perhaps more significantly, to fill critical gaps in rotas to address the ever-increasing recruitment crisis witnessed in the sector. While the government has backtracked on its original plans for these types of


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Some providers may have to reduce their capacity in order to cut costs


contracts to be banned completely, it still wants to significantly limit their scope, and has therefore proposed introducing the right for these workers to be offered ‘guaranteed hours’ contracts. What this means is that where


employers regularly engage staff under zero-hours contracts, those staff will be entitled to be offered a contract which sets out ‘guaranteed hours’ based on what is expected to be a 12-week reference period. They will also be entitled to receive reasonable notice of a shift being offered to them and reasonable notice of a shift being cancelled; otherwise some form of compensation will be payable. These measures are designed to act as a penalty to employers as well as to provide staff with greater certainty over their working arrangements.


Whilst the intention of the government is no doubt to remove the poor reputation often associated with these types of contracts (due to the small number of unscrupulous employers who may take unfair advantage of those working on a zero-hours basis) the initial feedback is that many people (staff and employers alike) actually prefer to work on a flexible basis, and the offer of a guaranteed hours contract will not be accepted. It remains to be seen whether the changes to the notification of shifts being offered or cancelled will have an impact on workers moving to different working arrangements, such as a consultancy basis etc.


Family friendly rights The ERB proposes to extend greater protection for those returning to the workplace after a period of maternity leave i.e. an extension of the ‘protected period’ to six months after a return to work. The right to bereavement leave will also be extended to apply to all staff, not just parents, and there will be a day one right to receive parental leave and paternity leave (removing the requirement for a minimum of 26 weeks’ service). As many employers already offer these entitlements to staff this may not have such a huge impact, especially if rights such as parental leave remain as an unpaid leave entitlement.


Rising staff costs


Alongside the announcement regarding the ERB, the government also announced in its Autumn Budget increases to National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates, a hike in employer National Insurance contributions to 15 per cent, and a lowering of the minimum threshold for employers to be required to pay National Insurance contributions.


These financial changes will come into


effect in April 2025 and are expected to place a significant burden on all businesses but particularly those in the care sector, given its already fragile state. Insolvencies, redundancies, and restructuring activity are expected to increase in early 2025 within the care sector. Some providers may have to reduce their capacity, in order to cut costs, at a time when the demand for social care is growing.


The ERB aims to introduce a series of regulation-making powers to enable the creation of an Adult Social Care Fair Pay


www.thecarehomeenvironment.com February 2025


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