Contact Us

Use the form on the right to contact us.

You can edit the text in this area, and change where the contact form on the right submits to, by entering edit mode using the modes on the bottom right. 

Pod 6, The Engine Rooms, Station Road
Chepstow
Monmouthshire

01633 730907

For more than 10 years we have provided companies of all sizes and in a variety of sectors with uncomplicated, innovative and affordable human resources advice and on-site support ensuring that your people are an asset to your company and not a liability.

News

With the National Minimum Wage (NMW) now almost fifteen years old, and with another increase pending on 1st April 2017 HMRC have issued a list of the most elaborate excuses they've been given by employers for not paying the appropriate rates:

The King's Speech

Alan Kitto

A little over a week ago, in the King’s Speech to Parliament, the new Government laid out its planned changes to employment law, as previously outlined in its manifesto and Plan to Make Work Pay.

The new Employment Rights Bill will include:

  • Making parental leave, sick pay, and protection from unfair dismissal available from day one (subject to special rules for probationary periods).

  • Banning zero-hour contracts, making sure that workers have a right to a contract that reflects the hours they regularly work.

  • Ending ‘fire and rehire’ and ‘fire and replace’ by reforming the law and replacing the statutory code.

  • Removing the lower earnings limit and waiting period for Statutory Sick Pay.

  • Making flexible working the default for all workers from day one and requiring employers to accommodate this as far as is reasonable.

  • Making it unlawful to dismiss a woman who has had a baby for six months after she comes back to work (with certain exceptions).

  • Creating the Fair Work Agency to enforce workplace rights.

  • Simplifying the process of statutory recognition for trade unions.

  • Introducing a right for workers and union members to access a union within workplaces.

The most significant change to most employers is the day-one right to bring claims for unfair dismissal and there is much discussion around whether the probationary periods referred to will have a statutory maximum duration and whether this might be a year, six months, or even three months.

Something very important to note however is the Government does not need new legislation to reduce the period within which unfair dismissal claims can be brought; there is provision within current legislation that allows them to change this period at will.

Several employment law pundits are suggesting that the Government may not want to give employers too much notice of this change for fear that employers may look to dismiss large numbers of employees before the new rules come into force. As such, there’s every possibility that the current two-year period could be imminently reduced, to perhaps a year or less, applying retrospectively to existing employees. 

The exceptions being referred to for probational periods could then be outlined in the new legislation when it’s finally published, later this year.

We’d strongly advise that you look carefully at any underperforming employees with less than two years of service as dismissing them outside of a probationary period is likely to be much more complicated and subject to legal challenge very soon.

For more information on this or any other HR matter, please don’t hesitate to ask.