HR Articles

Current figures suggest the number of people on zero-hours contracts in the UK hit a record high of 910,000 in the last 3 months of 2016.

April heralds the start of spring and often marks the start date for recently introduced legislation.

The 2017 Spring Budget was announced by the Chancellor Phillip Hammond and except for the self-employed, the changes were seen to be fairly uneventful from an employment law perspective.

In the case of Ali v Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago, the Privy Council ruled that there was no implied term that a voluntary redundancy situation relieves an employee’s obligation to repay a loan.

On 23rd February 2017, the Government provided a response to the consultation paper, ‘Reforming the Employment Tribunal System’ published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Ministry of Justice.

The long running question in Lock v British Gas, whether holiday pay should include commission, appears to have been definitively answered.

The Government has now confirmed that, as expected, the main provisions of the Trade Union Act 2016 will come into force on 1st March 2017.

The historic insurance market, Lloyd’s of London, has hit the headlines as it announced a ban on drinking alcohol between the hours of 9am and 5pm.

We reported last year (Apprenticeship levy update) on the government’s plans to introduce an apprenticeship levy of 0.5% for all employers with a total annual payroll bill in excess of £3m. The start date for the new scheme, (6 April 2017), is almost upon us which has prompted the government to publish guidance on how the levy will actually work in practice.

The Supreme Court has dismissed the Government’s appeal by a majority 8-3 and ruled that the process to leave the EU must be authorised by an Act of Parliament.