In this third and final part of our bite-size employment updates, we look ahead to forthcoming changes to family-friendly rights.

If you missed the first two parts you can find them here

Part 1 - What every HR professional should know about…..wages in 2023 and beyond...!

Part 2 - What every HR professional should know about…..harassment legislation in 2023 and beyond…!

A number of private members’ bills have recently received backing from the government and are expected to come into force in due course. 

Flexible Working

The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill has received government backing and will introduce many changes to flexible working rights when it comes into force (date to be confirmed). In particular: 

• the right to request flexible working arrangements will become a “day 1” right – regardless of the working hours agreed upon with the employee on the application. 
• employees will be able to make up to two flexible working requests a year (this is currently limited to one); 
• the time limit for dealing with flexible working requests (including any appeal) will be reduced to two months (currently three). 

No changes are proposed about the statutory grounds for refusing the request.  

Neo-natal leave

The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill 2022 would see the introduction of leave and pay for those with responsibility for children in neonatal care.

The leave is designed to be available for parents whose babies have been admitted up to the age of 28 days, where the baby has a continuous stay in the hospital of at least seven days. 

The minimum duration of the leave is likely to be around one week and will be an additional period of time that can be added onto maternity leave or paternity leave. 

Qualifying service and minimum earnings thresholds will apply. 

If approved, the changes are unlikely to come into force until next year. 

Carers’ leave

Again, likely to become law next year, the Carers’ Leave Bill seeks to introduce a new “day 1” statutory right for employees who are also unpaid carers to receive a week of unpaid leave each year to provide care. This will be in addition to other statutory rights to time off (e.g. emergency time off to care for dependant/parental leave). 

Maternity protection from redundancy

The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) bill proposes extending the special treatment afforded to women on maternity leave (the “protected period”) to six months after their return to work and commencing when they inform their employer that they are pregnant. Currently the “protected period” ends when a woman returns from maternity leave.

What should you do next….?

• Keep the family-friendly provisions on your radar and ensure any policies are reviewed and updated in good time before the new legislation comes into force. 

• Review redundancy policies and, in particular, the criteria used for pooling and selection of employees to assess the risk of these falling foul of direct/indirect discrimination legislation. 

  For more information on any of the above issues, please contact Prettys’ Employment Team on 01473 232121 or by clicking on our contact us link.