From 6th April 2010 employment tribunals will be able to pass information from whistle blowing claims straight to the relevant regulator. Relevant regulators are normally local authorities concerned with the particular instance under investigation, for example the Health and Safety Executive, the Care Quality Commission, the FSA, the Serious Fraud Office or HM Revenues and Customs. Passing the information on will be very straight forward as the tribunal claim form (ET1) will include a tick box for employees to give consent for the information provided to be passed on to the relevant regulator.

 

This change drastically increases the likelihood of a regulator being informed of malpractice within an organisation and should encourage you to take a few simple steps to protect yours. Most importantly, you should do everything in your power to keep your workplace “above board” so that the needs for whistle blowing are minimised. We can help you with advice on the various practices you should put in place to help to ensure this. Of course malpractice can and does happen despite the best protection you can manage. It is important therefore that you reduce the likelihood of claims through implementing an effective whistle blowing policy and make sure that your staff are trained to understand it. The policy should identify who to approach with concerns (providing alternatives in case that person is not appropriate in specific cases), confirm how the matter will be investigated, what will be done if a problem is discovered, and what will happen if allegations are made in bad faith. It is vital that the policy highlights that allegations will be taken seriously and that the whistle blower will be protected from victimisation. This will encourage employees to keep the case internal and an additional benefit is that where employees do make claims which go against the policy, their concerns are likely to be taken less seriously by tribunals.

If you need our assistance with a whistle blowing policy or any other policy please contact your HR Advantage Consultant or Campbell on 01494 451681 or at Campbell@hradvantage.co.uk.

 

When the new paternity leave provisions come in from April 2011 Fathers will be able to take up to 26 weeks additional paternity leave (APL) to care for a child under one. This would be in addition to the 2 weeks paternity leave to which they are already entitled. This provision will come into effect regardless of which Party is in power following the General Election.

This APL can only be taken once the mother of the child has returned to work meaning that a mother and father will not be able to take maternity leave and APL at the same time. Fathers will be able to take their APL from when the child is 20 weeks old.

This change could be rather complicated given that it is unlikely that the mother and father would be working for the same employer. There will therefore be increased administration associated with an organisation agreeing to an employee taking such leave. To help reduce this burden the Government will rely heavily on self-certification by the parents as regards their eligibility to the leave.

An employee wishing to take APL will have to give the required notice and various pieces of information to their employer including a declaration from the mother detailing their name, address and National Insurance number and the date on which they intend to return from maternity leave.

The mother must also confirm that the employee proposing to take APL is the only person exercising the right to APL in respect of the child. An employer will then, if they wish, be able to request a copy of the child's birth certificate and the name and address of the mother's employer.

A father will be entitled to be paid at a flat rate that is equivalent to SMP (currently £123.06 a week) during APL.

Unprecedented reduction in compensation for unfair dismissal

The compensation limit in unfair dismissal cases fell in February 2010 for the first time ever. The employment tribunal claims limit (for certain cases) is adjusted each year in line with the retail prices index (from September to September). The limit changes come into effect in relation to events such as dismissals which take place after February 1st in each year.

Given the unusual economic conditions last year, the RPI decreased from September 2008 to September 2009. Therefore the limit on the amount of compensatory award for unfair dismissal dropped in February 2010 to £65,300, (from the current £66,200).

However, the limit on a week’s pay (used to calculate basic awards, statutory redundancy payments and some other payments) which was subject to a one-off rise in October 2009 will not be reverting to £350, it will instead remain at £380.

 

From 6th April 2010 the lower earning limit for primary Class 1 National Insurance contributions will increase from £95 to £97. This means that anyone earning over £97 per week will be eligible to pay National Insurance contributions.