What's coming up? Quarterly horizon scan

Once a quarter, we bring you an update on what to look out for on the legislative horizon for UK employment law.

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What's coming up? Quarterly horizon scan

What's coming up? Quarterly horizon scan

Once a quarter, we bring you an update on what to look out for on the legislative horizon for UK employment law.

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June 14, 2024

April may have seen the most employment law changes of the year, but there are already other developments on the statute books to watch out for in coming months. Most of the forthcoming changes require secondary legislation to bring them into effect, so there is a hiatus at present due to the general election on 4 July.

Legislation	Summary	Timescale	What can you do to prepare?
Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023	Introduces a new statutory right for workers (including agency workers) with at least 26 weeks' service to request a more predictable working pattern.	Prior to the election being called, this was expected to come into force in September 2024.	Take a look at the draft Acas Code of Practice on dealing with requests for a predictable working pattern. The consultation on the draft Code closed in January. Be aware of the minimum service requirement of 26 weeks to access the right and the statutory grounds upon which you may reject an application.
Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023	Requires employers to ensure that all tips and service charges are allocated fairly between their workers (including agency workers).	Prior to the election being called, this was expected to come into force on 1 October 2024.	Assess your current procedures for handling tips and service charges and ensure they will be compliant with the new requirements. The government published its response to the consultation on the draft statutory Code of Practice, along with an updated draft of the Code, in late April. The House of Lords approved the draft Code before Parliament was prorogued for the general election. Commencement regulations are needed to bring the Code and remaining substantive provisions of the Act into force.
Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023	Introduces a positive duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees. Tribunals will have the power to award an uplift in compensation for harassment of up to 25% where it finds an employer has breached this duty. This is quite separate to the current position where employers may defend a claim (and avoid all liability) by proving that they had taken all reasonable steps to prevent harassment.	Comes into force on 26 October 2024.	Familiarise yourself with the duty the Act will introduce for employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees. Review existing policies and practices around sexual harassment and offer training to staff on any updated policies. This new positive obligation means it is even more important to show meaningful action to safeguard employees against harassment. The Equality and Human Rights Commission plans to hold a six-week consultation in early summer on the changes it plans to make to its technical guidance to reflect the new duty the Act introduces. The final, revised guidance should be available in September.
Seafarers Wages Act 2023	Requires that "non-qualifying seafarers" working on ships that use UK ports at least 120 times a year must be paid a rate at least equivalent to the national minimum wage. The government has launched two consultations. The first covered various procedural matters around declarations of national minimum wage compliance, administration of surcharges and refusal of harbour access. It closed in December 2023. The second consultation covered detail of the wage rates payable and surcharges for failure to provide a declaration of compliance. It closed in March 2024.	Prior to the election being called, we expected the government to publish its response to the second consultation over the summer, with the enforcement regime to come into force later this year.	Keep an eye out for the government's response to the second consultation.
Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023	Creates a statutory right to paid leave of between one and 12 weeks (in addition to other family leave) for a parent where their child has received, or is receiving, neonatal care.	Expected to come into force in April 2025.	Familiarise yourself with the four conditions that must be satisfied for a person to be entitled to statutory neonatal care leave. Consider if you wish to enhance the statutory level of neonatal care pay if you offer enhanced pay for other forms of family leave. The government will need to lay around seven pieces of secondary legislation to bring the Act into force and, prior to the election being called, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade had indicated that the government was working to introduce the new entitlements by April 2025 "at the earliest".
Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) Act 2023	Provides the Secretary of State with the power to reduce the lower age threshold for automatic enrolment into a pension scheme from 22 to 18.	No date yet for this to come into force.	The government decided not to utilise the new powers for the 2024/25 tax year. Watch out for our updates on these provisions coming into force.