This week, the Government confirmed the start date for three of the many HR changes happening next year. And it’s the same date for all three changes – 6 April 2024

Carer’s leave: This gives employees a brand-new entitlement to take unpaid time off work – up to one working week per rolling 12-month period – to fulfil their caring responsibilities for a dependent who has a long-term care need.

Added protection from redundancy for pregnant employees: Employees who tell their employer they are pregnant will have to be treated more favourably during a redundancy exercise. The enhanced treatment will continue until 18 months after the birth of their baby. Will also apply to adoption leave and shared parental leave.

Flexible working: This gives employees the right to make a request for flexible working from day one of employment. Currently, they can only make a request if they have been with their employer for at least 26 weeks. More big changes to the flexible working procedure will happen, most probably on the same date, but we’re still awaiting confirmation of that. The right to request flexible work is a very well established, well used employment right and this change means that from 6 April 2024, everyone can request for it, and more frequently. This is going to be a massive change for employers and employees alike.

What do employers need to do?
“There won’t be an employer in the land who already has a policy in place that meets the requirements of the new Carer’s leave law. This will, therefore, require them to create brand new policies ahead of the 6 April.

“Employers will have to understand who is eligible to take Carer’s leave, what evidence of eligibility they can ask for and what notice the employee has to give. They’ll need application forms and letters to deal with requests, as well as ways of recording who has taken Carer’s leave and how much they have taken.

“The other two laws – flexible working and enhanced redundancy protection for pregnant employees –  will require employers to make amendments to their existing policies. Managers will need to appreciate the new way that flexible working requests will need to be handled. When the whole raft of changes comes in, the process for managing requests will look very different, and employees can make a claim to employment tribunal if their employer doesn’t deal with a request properly.

“Unfortunately, there are new stories of redundancy every week. Employers will be unlawfully discriminating against pregnant employees if they do not follow the new rules. Discrimination compensation is uncapped. And cases frequently get plastered all over the news. So it’s important that employers are prepared in order to avoid both financial and reputational damage.”