Recent employment law changes to note

The start of April is often a time when a number of changes to employment law come into force and this year is no exception. Some of the key changes employers need to be aware of are outlined below.

ACAS early conciliation. From 6th April, early conciliation for claimants wanting to pursue employment claims is being brought in. The process, which encourages the parties involved in litigation to try to settle and therefore avoid cases going to Tribunal, will be optional for the first month, becoming mandatory on 6th May. After this date, an employee will not be able to file a claim at the Employment Tribunal without a certificate number from ACAS, which can only be obtained by contacting them about conciliation.

Increases to compensatory awards. On 6th April, there was an increase to the maximum unfair dismissal compensation limit, taking this to £76,574. In the majority of cases, it is unlikely that this figure would be awarded however as since July last year, unfair dismissal claims have had compensation capped at one year’s salary. A ‘week’s pay’ for calculating the basic award in unfair dismissal claims has increased from £450 to £464 (this rate also applies when calculating redundancy pay).