The changes which are expected to come into force on 9 April 2012 are as follows:

•Statutory Maternity, Paternity, Additional Paternity, Adoption Pay and Maternity Allowance will increase from £128.73 to £135.45; and

•Statutory Sick Pay will increase from £81.60 to £85.85.

Raising the time threshold for lodging an unfair dismissal claim and charging claimants fees for making them is likely not win the Government universal popularity with employees. The suggested logic behind the proposed changes is questioned by many as it may have costly unintended consequences.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne provided details of the changes at last month’s Conservative Party conference. They are a manifestation of the Government’s stated intent to cut businesses’ red tape burden, a move that it hopes will make employers more likely to create jobs.

Osborne told the Party faithful that the qualifying period for an unfair dismissal claim will rise from one to two years from 1 April 2012. Fees will be introduced, although these will not be confirmed until after the Government responds to the Resolving Workplace Disputes consultation, which closed in April 2011.

He indicated that this will include an upfront fee of £250 when lodging an ET1, a further fee of £1,000 if the claim is accepted into the system, and possibly higher fees for claims of more than £30,000. Fees will be refunded if claimants win their cases.

This is a really informative article. We’d love to hear your views.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15368029

The Bribery Act 2010 modernises the law on bribery and came into force on 1^st July 2011. Bribery is a form of corruption where an individual or organisation seeks to unduly influence someone by offering a financial advantage. The maximum penalty under the new laws is 10 years imprisonment.

Your organisation could be liable if an individual in senior management commits an offence. However, you may also be liable for failing to prevent a person from bribing on your behalf but only if that person performs services for you in business. This could include an employee or agent but it is very unlikely that you could be liable for the actions of a mere supplier.

You can defend a prosecution if you can show that you put suitable procedures in place to prevent bribery from taking place. The extent of the relevant procedures will depend on the risk of bribery in each individual case.

The new law does not prohibit offering hospitality to customers but facilitation payments would be a breach of the Act.

At the time the Act was drafted, arguably the intention was to deter corruption among British companies operating abroad and prevent them offering inducements to obtain lucrative contracts. However, the first conviction under the Act involved a magistrate’s court clerk who received payment for not recording a driving offence.

Chris Brewis – Commercial Team

A brief summary of their impact is that;

a)      They only apply to ‘temporary work agency’ this is not an agency finding permanent employment roles for individuals.

b)      The agency worker will be subject to the same ‘basic working and employment conditions’ as a permanent worker specifically with regards to pay, working hours, night work, rest periods, rest breaks and annual leave entitlement.

c)       To qualify for the protection afforded by the regulations an individual must work for the employer for a continuous period of 12 weeks, however, there are extensive anti-avoidance provisions to prevent the circumvention of the regulations.

d)      The regulations will not determine an individual’s employment status for the purpose of them being able to establish employment rights (e.g. with regards to unfair dismissal). In such instances it remains the case that it remains unlikely that an agency worker will be considered to be a direct employee of the client even if they have worked for them exclusively for a significant time.

For more detail on the new regulations please see http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1873

Richard Gordon

For more details as to this change please see the ACAS guide “Working without the default retirement age – Guidance for Employers”  http://www.acas.org.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=2976

Due to the removal of this upper limit on age this now calls in to question how employers should react with regard to their incapability procedures.

As a consequence, it is possible that more ageing employees may by dismissed on such grounds where their ability to undertake their role is called in to question.

The law has changed and now so must the employer’s approach to its employees.

It is Michele’s intention to take a year out, before considering her next move. She will be continuing her interest in Clay Pigeon Shooting having recently been selected for the GB & I team at a competition in France where Michele & the team won a Silver Medal.

Michele has received numerous cards and e-mails from clients and contacts wishing her all the very best.

All the staff at Crane & Staples wish Michele all the very best for the future.

Bonnie Twiggs will take on the role of Head of the Residential Conveyancing Team.