The Government have published The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2015, bringing three employment provisions in the 2015 Act into force from 26 May 2015. Although the Order was made on 20 May, it only appeared on the legislation.gov.uk website on the day when the provisions, as set out below, actually came into force. They are as follows:

S.149: Enables regulations to be made prohibiting defined NHS Employers in England, Scotland and Wales from discriminating against job applicants because it appears to the NHS employer that the applicant has made a protected disclosure. The regulations have yet to be made.

S.152: Amends the maximum penalty for the underpayment of the NMW from £20,000 per notice per employer, no matter how many underpaid workers are involved, so that the maximum penalty which can now be imposed on an employer is £20,000 per employee.

S.153: Provides that a provision in a zero-hours contract which prohibits the worker from doing work under any other arrangement is unenforceable. This means that a worker on a zero-hours contract can work for another employer and the employer cannot take any legal action to prevent the worker from doing so. This applies to existing zero-hour contracts as well as those entered into on or after 26 May 2015.  The Government consulted in March 2015 on further regulations to combat avoidance tactics by employers and the final regulations are awaited. Under the proposed regulations, the prohibition on exclusivity extended to all contracts of employment or worker’s contracts under which the individual is not guaranteed a certain level of weekly income, i.e. the agreed number of hours x the adult NMW. There will be an exception to this if the rate of pay for each hour worked under the contract is at least £20.

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