Date coming into force |
Legislation |
Overview |
6 April 2010 |
Time off to train The Employee Study & Training (Procedural Requirements) Regulations 2010 |
The right to request time off for training entitles employees to apply for time off without pay to participate in training. This new right applies to organisations with 250 or more employees from 6 April 2010, and will be extended to apply to all organisations from April 2011. |
6 April 2010 |
Paternity Work and Families Act 2006 Additional Paternity Leave and Pay Regulations 2010 |
The planned extension of statutory maternity pay (SMP) from 39 to 52 weeks has been postponed indefinitely. However, the new scheme for additional paternity leave (APL) will affect parents of children born on or after 3 April 2011 (with matching rights for parents of adopted children). APL will allow fathers or partners of mothers to take up the rest of maternity leave and pay if the mother returns to work early. Additional statutory paternity pay (ASPP) will be paid at the standard SMP rate. In practice, take up of APL may be higher where the mother earns more than the father or partner. |
October 2010 (TBC) |
Equality Equality Act 2010 |
The core of the Equality Act 2010 is likely to come into force in October 2010 together with three statutory codes of practice. The Act will harmonise and strengthen UK discrimination law.
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1 October 2010 |
Minimum wage National Minimum Wage Regulations (Amendment) Regulations 2010 |
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1 April 2011 |
Immigration Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules (TBC) |
The first annual limit on the number of non-EU economic migrants will come into force. While the Tier 2 (intra-company transfer) route was unaffected by the interim limits introduced in July 2010, intra-company transfers are unlikely to be entirely exempted from the annual limit. |
6 April 2011 (TBC) |
Age Regulations under the European Communities Act 1972 (TBC) |
The Government will start phasing out the default retirement age, which allows employers to force employees to retire at 65. Transitional arrangements will apply for six months to cover retirements already in progress. From 1 October 2011 ordinary unfair dismissal and age discrimination rules will apply if an employer wishes to dismiss or retire an older employee. The Government is consulting on the impact which removal of the default retirement age could have on the provision of group insured benefits. |
6 April 2011 (TBC) |
Equality Equality Act 2010 |
New protection from direct discrimination because of a combination of two protected characteristics (dual discrimination), e.g. because an employee is an elderly woman. |
1 October 2011 |
Agency workers Agency Workers Regulations 2010 |
After 12 weeks in the same role, temps placed through agencies will be entitled to the same basic working and employment conditions (including basic pay, overtime, shift allowances, bonuses and holiday) as if they had been recruited directly by the hirer to do the same job. The Coalition Government may review the 12 week qualifying period before implementation. Contractual redundancy pay, occupational sick pay and occupational pensions are excluded from the equal treatment principle. New arrangements which are "substantively different" will restart the clock. So will a six week gap in some cases. However, there are some "day one" rights, e.g. access to vacancies and collective facilities such as crèches. |
October 2011 (TBC) |
Bribery Bribery Act 2010 |
The Bribery Act 2010 will require employers to have "adequate procedures" in place to prevent bribery. These may include an anti-bribery policy, staff training, rules on corporate entertainment and greater control over employees working in some countries abroad. |
1 October 2012 |
Pensions Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Automatic
Enrolment) |
Employers will be required to automatically enrol "job holders" into a qualifying work place pension scheme and to make minimum contributions. Phasing arrangements will apply. |
TBC |
The Coalition Government Programme The Coalition: our programme for government |
The Coalition Government plans:
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