There are a number of employment law changes scheduled to take place in 2015 and a summary of the 15 things employers need to know can be found below which includes.

Restrictions on the type and nature of back-dated holiday pay claims. The introduction of shared parental leave and pay. Adoption leave and pay will become equivalent to that for birth parents. Prospective adopters will have the right to take time off to attend adoption appointments. The child’s age limit to be able to take parental leave raises to 18. The new Fit for Work service will be introduced. The Government is scheduled to amend the Equality Act to make caste discrimination unlawful.

4 January 2015 – Employment agencies not able to advertise vacancies exclusively in other EEA countries

Regulation 2 of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses (Amendment) Regulations 2014 came into force under which an agency or employment business must not advertise a GB vacancy in an EEA state other than the United Kingdom unless it advertises the vacancy in English in Great Britain at the same time as it advertises the vacancy in the other EEA state, or, it has advertised the vacancy in English in Great Britain in the period of 28 days ending with the day on which it advertises the vacancy in the other EEA state.

8 January 2015 – Right to holiday pay under WTR a statutory right, not contractual

Regulation 3 of the Deduction from Wages (Limitation) Regulations 2014 came into force on 8 January 2015 stipulating that the right to holiday pay provided for under the Working Time Regulations (WTR) is not a contractual right, but a statutory right. Therefore claims for under/non-payment of statutory holiday pay can only be brought under the WTR, or as an unlawful deductions from wages claim under the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) and not as a claim in civil court.

March 2015 – DPA 1998 to prevent requirement to provide specified criminal record checks

S.56 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA 1998) prevents employers from requiring people during the recruitment process or in connection with continued employment to use their subject access rights under the DPA 1998 to obtain and then provide specified criminal record checks, as a condition of employment. It also prevents contracts from requiring specified records as a condition for providing or receiving a service. However, it does not prevent such requests where the record is required by law, or by the order of a court, or is justified in the public interest. The relevant specified records are set out in a table within S.56 and the provision will come into force in March 2015 on a date to be specified by the Ministry of Justice.

Shared parental leave and pay begins

Eligible employees will have a new statutory entitlement to shared parental leave and pay if they are expecting a baby which is due on or after 5 April 2015 or if they have a child placed with them for adoption on or after that date. Existing rules on maternity and ordinary paternity leave and pay remain the same but additional paternity leave and pay will be abolished. Shared parental leave and pay will be available to birth mothers and adopters and the child’s father/the mother’s or adopter’s partner. “Partner” means a person who the mother or adopter is married to or in a civil partnership with; or a partner who the mother or adopter is living with. Note also that shared parental leave and pay will become available to the intended parents in surrogacy arrangements (see below concerning the extension of rights). BIS have published an updated version of the 'Employers’ Technical Guide to Shared Parental Leave and Pay' for employers who are developing or updating their policies on shared parental leave and pay. This guidance was first published in September 2014 and has been revised in light of feedback from users.

Changes to statutory adoption leave and pay

From 5 April 2015 adoption leave and pay will be equivalent to that for birth parents. The current 26 week qualifying period for adoption leave will be removed and statutory adoption pay will be enhanced to 90 percent of salary for the first six weeks. Adoption leave and pay will also become available to the intended parents in surrogacy arrangements.

New right to take time off to attend adoption appointments

A new right to attend adoption appointments comes into force on 5 April 2015 whereby employees and agency workers who are proposing to adopt will be entitled to take time off work to attend adoption appointments in certain circumstances. Single adopters will be entitled to paid time off to attend five appointments and joint adopters may elect for one of them to take paid time off to attend up to five appointments, while the other may take unpaid time off to attend up to two appointments. The time off for each appointment is a maximum of six and a half hours.

Child’s age limit for parental leave raises to 18

Currently an employee with one year’s service is entitled to up to 18 weeks unpaid parental leave to be taken before their child either turns five years old, or turns 18 if the child is disabled. From 5 April 2015, a qualifying employee will be able to take parental leave at any time until the day a child turns 18.  SMP, SPP, SAP, SSPP and SSP increases

The new statutory maternity pay (SMP), paternity pay (SPP) adoption pay (SAP), The new statutory maternity pay (SMP), paternity pay (SPP) adoption pay (SAP), shared parental pay (SSPP) and statutory sick pay (SSP) rates which apply from April 2015 are as follows:

– SMP, SPP, SAP and SSPP increases from £138.18 to £139.58.

– SSP increases from £87.55 to £88.45.

– Abolition of employer NICs for under 21s

– Under S.9 of the National Insurance Contributions Act 2014, employers will no longer have to pay secondary Class 1 NICs on earnings up to the Upper Secondary Threshold for employees under 21 years of age from 6 April 2015.

1 July 2015

Regulation 2 of the Deduction from Wages (Limitation) Regulations 2014 comes into force amending S.23 of the ERA 1996 to introduce a two-year limitation period on unlawful deductions from wages claims with ‘wages’ as defined in S.27(1)(a) of the ERA 1996, i.e. holiday pay, plus any fee, bonus, commission, or other emolument referable to employment, whether payable under the contract or otherwise. The limitation has been designed, primarily, to limit the impact of the EAT's decision in Bear Scotland Ltd v Fulton (and other co-joined cases) that holiday pay should reflect non-guaranteed overtime.

October 2015 – National Minimum Wage increase

The Government has submitted evidence to the Low Pay Commission (LPC) which will help decide the level of the National Minimum Wage from October 2015, which includes asking the LPC to consider how the real value of the NMW can be increased, without having an adverse impact on jobs, and simplifying the apprenticeship pay system. The LPC will submit its report with its recommendations on national minimum wage rates to the Government in early 2015.

Other Expected Developments:

Fit for Work service

The new Fit for Work service is scheduled to be introduced during 2015 aimed at providing free occupational health assessments and assisting employees who have been absent for four weeks or more to return to work. The advice service for GPs, employers or employee is now live on the Fit for Work website. According to the information on the website, there will be a phased roll-out of the referral service “over a period of months”.

Making caste discrimination unlawful

In 2013, S.9 of the Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010) was amended by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 so that an Order must be made providing for caste to be included as an aspect of race and therefore a characteristic protected against unlawful discrimination and harassment under the relevant provisions of the EA 2010. The BIS timetable indicates that the Order will be made in 2015, after consultation.

Employment measures in the Deregulation Bill

The Deregulation Bill has completed is passage through the House of Commons, the first and second readings in the House of Lords and the Committee stage. The Report stage is scheduled for 3 February 2015, but no dates are available for the third reading and Royal Assent. The BIS statement setting out the deregulation measures still to be introduced in this Parliament, indicates that the provisions in the Equality Act 2010 which enable an Employment Tribunal, where an employer has lost a case, to make recommendations to stop or reduce the adverse effect of any discrimination or harassment to which the proceedings relate affecting the employer’s ‘wider workforce’, will be repealed under current Clause 2 of the Deregulation Bill, from 6 April 2015. The power to make recommendations to reduce any adverse effect on the successful individual Claimant will remain.

Employment measures in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill

The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill has completed is passage through the House of Commons and the first and second readings in the House of Lords. The Committee stage started on 7 January 2015. Dates, however, for the Report stage and the third reading are yet to be scheduled, before Royal Assent is gained.