Overview of recent and proposed employment legislation - Great Britain

The known implementation dates for future legislation are listed below, but also note that the Government has announced a number of suggestions for future change, which include:

• Unfair dismissal: an increase in the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims to two years from April 2012 (already announced)
• Employment tribunals:
  • every case will be lodged with ACAS to enable them to try to conciliate prior to going to tribunal. ACAS will have one month (which may be extended for a further 2 weeks) in which to offer non-compulsory early conciliation, and will retain its duty to provide post claim conciliation. A shortened claim form will also be introduced to allow ACAS to receive key details at the early conciliation stage.
  • options for a 'rapid resolution scheme' to enable simple claims (eg non-payment of holiday pay) to be settled within three months.
  • the employment tribunal rules of procedure will be reviewed, including changes to costs and deposit orders. Claimants (means-tested) would have to pay £250 to lodge a claim and then a further £1,000 to proceed to a full hearing, with higher fees for claims worth over £30,000 - this is anticipated to come into force in 2013. Further proposals are that the existing power to make a party pay a deposit of up to £500 as a condition of being permitted to continue the case, will be made more flexible and the maximum deposit increased to £1000. The current cap on cost awards limits would be increased from £10,000 to £20,000.
  • the Government has already announced that witness statements should be taken as read, unless a judge or tribunal directs otherwise. Additionally, parties and witnesses attending tribunal hearings will no longer be able to claim for the payment of their expenses.
  • Employment Judges to sit alone in unfair dismissal cases.
  • financial penalties for employers who deliberately breach employment rights - a minimum £100 is proposed, with an upper ceiling of £5000.
• Redundancy dismissals: reducing the minimum 90 day consultation period for collective consultation for redundancies (possibly to 30, 45, or 60 days)
• Protected conversations: a new idea that would allow employers to discuss issues like retirement or poor performance in an open (but non-discriminatory) manner with employees, without this being referred to or used in any subsequent tribunal claims.
• Compromise agreements: will be shortened and simplified, renamed "settlement agreements" and may be used to settle discrimination claims under the Equality Act.
• Whistleblowing: complaints about breach of employment contract will be taken out of whistleblowing law
• CRB checks: should become portable, so no need for a fresh application when moving jobs
• TUPE: simplification of the regulations
• Maternity and paternity leave: to be 'modernised', with emphasis on greater involvement for fathers
• National Minimum Wage Regulations: will be simplified by merging everything into one set of regulations
• Flexible working: to be extended to all
• No-fault dismissals: and finally, but no proposals have been published, the Government has said it is still looking at the option of allowing businesses with 10 or fewer employees to make "compensated no fault dismissals", as long as they pay compensation equivalent to a redundancy payment.

2012 and future developments
Date effective	Legislative measure	Main proposal
1 April 2012		The qualifying period to bring an unfair dismissal claim will be increased to two years. See dismissal
2012	Equality Act	The ban on age discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities, services and public functions is expected to come into force. The requirement on public bodies to set objectives under the general equality duty are expected to take effect from 2 April 2012 (and thereafter at intervals of no less than four years). See Equality Act
October 2012 - September 2016	Pensions Act 2008	It will be compulsory for employers to contribute to the new personal account pension scheme, which employees will automatically join when they start a new job, unless the employer provides an alternative which is as good or better. See pensions
April 2013		Claimants will be required to pay fees to lodge and bring a tribunal claim. The fees will be reimbursed to successful claimants. See tribunals
2013	Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009	Will give suitably qualified young people a new right to an apprenticeship. See apprentices
2013	Equality Act 2010	Private and voluntary sector gender pay transparency regulations and the requirement on political parties to publish diversity data may take effect (if required) See Equality Act
2013	Education and Skills Act 2008	Raises the school leaving age to 17 from 2013, and 18 from 2015.
Planned for 6 April 2011 but was postponed	Flexible working	The right to request flexible working was to be extended to parents of children aged under 18 but this was postponed. See: Flexible working
Planned for April 2011 but was postponed	The Employee Study and Training (Procedural Requirements) Regulations 2010	The right to request time off for training was to be extended to all employees, but this was postponed. See: time to train
Implemented during 2011
Date effective	Legislative measure	Main proposal
1 January 2011	The Jurors' Allowances (Scotland) Regulations 2010	Increased the rates for those undertaking jury service in Scotland, and changed the duration of payments. See: key statistics
1 February 2011	Employment Rights (Revision of Limits) Order 2010	Increased the rates for a 'week's pay', unfair dismissal compensation and statutory guarantee payments. See: key statistics
3 April 2011	Additional Paternity Leave Regulations 2010	A father or partner may take additional paternity leave and pay in respect of babies due, or a child adopted, on or after 3 April 2011, provided that the mother/primary adopter returns to work. See: paternity leave
3 April 2011, 6 April for SSP	Statutory payments	Increased SMP, SAP, SPP and SSP See: key statistics
6 April 2011	Equality Act	The public sector single equality duty came into force, as did the ability of employers to take positive action on recruitment and promotion when faced with two candidates who are equally qualified. See: Equality Act
6 April 2011	Employment Equality (Repeal of Retirement Age) Regulations 2011	Transitional arrangements for the retirement of those aged 65 or over before 1 October 2011. See: statutory retirement procedure
6 April 2011	Immigration rules	A new cap on the number of migrants that can come to the UK from outside Europe came into force. See: foreign workers
5 June 2011	Transnational Information and Consultation of Employees (Amendment) Regulations 2010	Deals with European Works Councils. Applies to organisations with at least 1000 employees within the EEA and at least 150 employees in each of two or more member states. See consulting with your workers
1 July 2011	Bribery Act	Requires organisations to take active steps to prevent bribery. Introduces general offences of offering or receiving bribes; bribing a foreign public official, and failing to prevent a bribe being paid for or on an organisation's behalf. See: Business gifts and hospitality
1 October 2011	Statutory payments	Increases to the National Minimum Wage See: key statistics
1 October 2011	Agency Workers Regulations	Give agency workers the right to the same pay and conditions after 12 weeks' employment in the same role and with the same hirer. See agency workers
30 December 2011	The Accession (Immigration and Worker Authorisation) (Amendment) Regulations 2011	Continue the restriction on Bulgarian and Romanian workers who are free to come to the UK, but are only able to work here if they hold a valid accession worker authorisation document or if they are exempt from authorisation. See checking the right to work in the UK

For information on previous years' legislation: 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006

We also offer a guide to recent and proposed legislation in Northern Ireland .