Key Employment Law changes in 2018

A new year is an ideal time to look across the different areas of your business and make plans for the months ahead.

Where your staff are concerned, you’ll probably have some thoughts in mind – perhaps you’ve already started working on recruitment or improving productivity of existing staff, or perhaps you want to make changes to your team structure.

In addition to making plans such as these, you may well need to plan for some of the changes in legislation coming this year. Here, we look at the key employment law changes and what you might need to do in preparation

April 2018 – Gender Pay Gap: First Reports

Following legislation dating back to 2010, this year will see the first publication dates for gender pay gap figures.

Applying to private and voluntary sector employers in England, Wales and Scotland with at least 250 employees, as well as larger public sector employers, the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017 makes it mandatory to publish information about the differences in pay between men and women in their workforce.

Key dates to watch are 4th April 2018 for private and voluntary sector employers and 30th March for public sector organisations.

April 2018 – Restricting Employment Allowance for Illegal Workers

In a move to crack down on illegal workers in the UK, the Government will introduce a policy from April 2018 that removes the eligibility for Employment Allowance for one year if an employer has been found guilty by the Home Office of employing an illegal worker.

25 May 2018 – General Data Protection Regulations

In May 2018, the UK will implement the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). This widely discussed legislation will replace the UK’s current Data Protection Act, tightening rules and increasing penalties for the use of data from across the European Union.

For employers, the rules will mean giving individuals easier access to their own data, a ‘right to be forgotten’ and informing them when their data has been hacked. It’s worth noting that permission for ‘processing’ the data of individuals must be expressly sought – for example if running a psychometric profile on a job applicant or using the data of employees to compile any statistics.

Employers will need to ensure they have adequate procedures in place for the safe and secure collection, transferring and storing of employee data.

2018 – Grandparental Leave

In an extension to the Shared Parental Leave regulations implemented in 2016, the government has announced that they plan to extend the right to shared leave and pay to working grandparents.

At the time of writing, there has been no further details or date announced on this. If you require further advice on any of the above employment law changes or have wider plans you aim to make this year, please get in touch to arrange a free of charge discussion.