News

Commenting on an article in Recruiter magazine on 28th July (“Recruitment bodies welcome new Small Business Czar”), Adrian Marlowe, Chairman of the Association of Recruitment Consultancies (ARC) said “We identified ‘pay when paid’ and other related unfair payment clauses in RPO contracts as an issue that government urgently needed to address back in 2011 against […]

The government’s latest initiative to appoint a small business commissioner to help with payment terms and disputes between small businesses and their larger customers is to be welcomed, says the Association of Recruitment Consultancies (ARC). “Any help that can be given to smaller businesses that suffer through late payment must be a good thing and […]

Businesses have adapted to the ECJ decisions in the conjoined cases of Stringer and Schultz-Hoff resulting in employees accruing holiday when they are on sick leave. The sometimes substantial amounts of holiday accrued (but not yet taken) because the employee has been on long-term sick leave (due to for instance cancer or HIV) is usually […]

The Commons Select Committee has decided to launch an inquiry into the effects of the introduction and levels of the tribunal fees and charges. The Commons Select Committee inquiry is separate from the Ministry of Justice’s (MOJ) review. The differences from the MOJ reviews are that this new inquiry is taking evidence from external bodies, […]

The government has now implemented provisions to curb only advertising UK based jobs overseas. The insertion of Regulation 27A of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 (‘Conduct Regulations’) means that if you are advertising jobs abroad, you also have to place adverts in English in the UK. It may seem like […]

On 15th July the government announced a consultation to abolish the rules that prohibit an employment business from replacing a worker on strike. The plan appears to be to enable employers to use agency workers whenever a strike is in operation, whether to replace a striking worker or to fill a position of someone who […]

1. The government will continue to clamp down on tax avoidance, planning and evasion, as well as increasing resources for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) so they can make sure people pay the tax that are due. This includes: extra investment between now and 2020 for HMRC’s work on evasion and non-compliance tripling the number […]

In light of the recent case law, ACAS has published updated guidance on calculating holiday pay. The new guidance is aimed at employees but is useful to employers also, as it confirms that employees could have a claim where they believe their employer failed to take into account ALL elements of pay normally received, e.g. […]

The Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland delivered its judgment on whether employers should take into account voluntary overtime when calculating holiday pay in Patterson v Castlereagh Borough Council.  ‘Voluntary overtime’ refers to situations in which the employee is not under an obligation to work overtime and the employer is not obliged to offer any […]

This question is discussed in the Federación de Servicios Privados del Sindicato Comisiones Obreras case brought before the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The claimants in this case worked as technicians for two security system installation and maintenance companies in Spain. Whilst the companies’ main offices were based in Madrid, the claimants were assigned to […]

This question was considered in the recent case of Suhail v Barking Havering & Redbridge NHS Trust. Mr Suhail (the claimant) worked as a GP for Rotherham Primary Care. Additionally, from time to time he provided services to Redbridge NHS Trust through a Cooperative (PELC). He was described as “self-employed” and paid gross (without deduction […]

The government has announced some key changes which will be implemented by the end of this year and which will have an impact on employment: The Fit for Work service which is aimed at assisting employers and employees to manage long term absences from work is currently only available in Sheffield and the area of […]

Businesses should be made aware of the growing threat of cyber security breaches. A survey on behalf of the government indicated that 90% of big businesses experienced some form of cyber security breach in 2015, compared to 81% in the previous year. Moreover, the cost of security breaches continue to soar, as in the most […]

Parliament was officially opened with HM the Queen delivering her speech on 27th May, outlining the new government’s legislative agenda for the coming year. David Cameron pledged to “create two million more jobs” over the course of the next 5 years, in order to achieve “full employment”, where there would be “a job for everyone […]