Further Brexit announcements

Following the announcement last week that all EU-derived law will remain unless specifically repealed, the government has announced their intention to make changes to the Working Time Regulations and TUPE provisions following Brexit.

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Rena Christou, Halborns’ Managing Director, shares her thoughts:

Working Time Regulations

Rolled up holiday pay to be allowed – there are plans to allow holiday pay to be included within hourly pay (particularly relevant for zero-hours or agency workers). This could mark a significant and welcome change for employers.

Merging holiday entitlements – employees’ holiday entitlement is currently split into two parts (4 weeks based on EU law and 1.6 weeks based on UK law). The proposal is to merge the two. My view is this should simplify the admin of managing the two different entitlements, but at the moment we’re unclear how this will be achieved and how it will affect holiday pay calculations.

Recording working time not required – whilst this sounds appealing there will still be the need to maintain “adequate records” for the purposes of National Minimum Wage and holiday pay. How this will change things in practice is unclear.

Changes to TUPE consultation

The plan is to remove the requirement to consult with appointed representatives for businesses with fewer than 50 employees and transfers affecting fewer than 10 employees. My view is this is a welcome change to ensure more appropriately facilitated communication for smaller TUPE transfers.

The announcements lack finer detail – we’ll update you as and when we know more. Contact me here if you’d like to chat about what these changes might mean for your business.

This update is accurate on the date it was published, but may be subject to change which may or may not be notified to you. This update is not to be taken as advice and you should seek advice if anything contained within affects you or your business.