Overview of recent and proposed employment legislation - Great Britain

The known implementation dates for future legislation are listed below, but note that the Government has announced a number of further suggestions for future change, which include:

• Employment tribunals:
  • every case will be lodged with ACAS to enable them to try to conciliate prior to going to tribunal. ACAS will have one month (which may be extended for a further 2 weeks) in which to offer non-compulsory early conciliation, and will retain its duty to provide post claim conciliation. A shortened claim form will also be introduced to allow ACAS to receive key details at the early conciliation stage.
  • options for a 'rapid resolution scheme' to enable simple claims (eg non-payment of holiday pay) to be settled within three months.
  • claimants (means-tested) may have to pay £250 to lodge a claim and then a further £1,000 to proceed to a full hearing, with higher fees for claims worth over £30,000 - this is anticipated to come into force in 2013.
  • financial penalties for employers who deliberately breach employment rights - a minimum £100 is proposed, with an upper ceiling of £5000.
• Redundancy dismissals: reducing the minimum 90 day consultation period for collective consultation for redundancies (possibly to 30, 45, or 60 days)
• Protected conversations: a new idea that would allow employers to discuss issues like retirement or poor performance in an open (but non-discriminatory) manner with employees, without this being referred to or used in any subsequent tribunal claims.
• Compromise agreements: will be shortened and simplified, renamed "settlement agreements" and may be used to settle discrimination claims under the Equality Act.
• Whistleblowing: complaints about breach of employment contract will be taken out of whistleblowing law
• CRB checks: should become portable, so no need for a fresh application when moving jobs
• TUPE: simplification of the regulations
• Maternity and paternity leave: to be 'modernised', with emphasis on greater involvement for fathers
• National Minimum Wage Regulations: will be simplified by merging everything into one set of regulations
• Flexible working: to be extended to all
• No-fault dismissals: and finally, but no proposals have been published, the Government has said it is still looking at the option of allowing businesses with 10 or fewer employees to make "compensated no fault dismissals", as long as they pay compensation equivalent to a redundancy payment.

2012 and future developments
Date effective	Legislative measure	Main proposal
15 February 2012	The Employment Tribunals (Increase of Maximum Deposit) Order 2012	Amends the maximum amount that regulations may specify for a deposit order to a maximum of £1000. See dismissal
6 April 2012	The Unfair Dismissal and Statement of Reasons for Dismissal (Variation of Qualifying Period) Order 2012	The qualifying period to bring an unfair dismissal claim and to request a written statement of the reasons for dismissal increases to two years for those who join on or after 6 April 2012. See dismissal
6 April 2012	The Employment Tribunals Act 1996 (Composition) Order 2012	Employment judges may sit alone to hear claims of unfair dismissal and also may hear all cases alone in the Employment Appeal Tribunal. See dismissal
6 April 2012	The Equality Act 2010 (Amendment) Order 2012	Amends the Equality Act to make it clear that someone acting on behalf of a claimant (such as his/her lawyer) is not excluded from being an independent adviser - thus making compromise agreements effective for Equality Act claims. See dismissal
6 April 2012	The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR)	The period an employee has to be absent before the employer has to report a workplace accident increases from three to seven days. See accident reporting
6 April 2012	The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012	Replace the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 and create a new category of low risk work, known as 'notifiable non-licensed work'. See asbestos
6 April 2012	The Apprenticeships (Form of Apprenticeship Agreement) Regulations 2012	Sets out the prescribed form for an apprenticeship agreement that is also a contract of service. See apprentices
October 2012 - September 2016	Pensions Act 2008	It will be compulsory for employers to contribute to the new personal account pension scheme, which employees will automatically join when they start a new job, unless the employer provides an alternative which is as good or better. See pensions
April 2013		Claimants will be required to pay fees to lodge and bring a tribunal claim. The fees will be reimbursed to successful claimants. See tribunals
2013	Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009	Will give suitably qualified young people a new right to an apprenticeship. See apprentices
2013	Equality Act	Private and voluntary sector gender pay transparency regulations and the requirement on political parties to publish diversity data may take effect (if required) See Equality Act
2013	Education and Skills Act 2008	Raises the school leaving age to 17 from 2013, and 18 from 2015.
Planned for 6 April 2011 but was postponed	Flexible working	The right to request flexible working was to be extended to parents of children aged under 18 but this was postponed. See: Flexible working
Planned for April 2011 but was postponed	The Employee Study and Training (Procedural Requirements) Regulations 2010	The right to request time off for training was to be extended to all employees, but this was postponed. See: time to train
Implemented during 2011
Date effective	Legislative measure	Main proposal
1 January 2011	The Jurors' Allowances (Scotland) Regulations 2010	Increased the rates for those undertaking jury service in Scotland, and changed the duration of payments. See: key statistics
1 February 2011	Employment Rights (Revision of Limits) Order 2010	Increased the rates for a 'week's pay', unfair dismissal compensation and statutory guarantee payments. See: key statistics
3 April 2011	Additional Paternity Leave Regulations 2010	A father or partner may take additional paternity leave and pay in respect of babies due, or a child adopted, on or after 3 April 2011, provided that the mother/primary adopter returns to work. See: paternity leave
3 April 2011, 6 April for SSP	Statutory payments	Increased SMP, SAP, SPP and SSP See: key statistics
6 April 2011	Equality Act	The public sector single equality duty came into force, as did the ability of employers to take positive action on recruitment and promotion when faced with two candidates who are equally qualified. See: Equality Act
6 April 2011	Employment Equality (Repeal of Retirement Age) Regulations 2011	Transitional arrangements for the retirement of those aged 65 or over before 1 October 2011. See: statutory retirement procedure
6 April 2011	Immigration rules	A new cap on the number of migrants that can come to the UK from outside Europe came into force. See: foreign workers
5 June 2011	Transnational Information and Consultation of Employees (Amendment) Regulations 2010	Deals with European Works Councils. Applies to organisations with at least 1000 employees within the EEA and at least 150 employees in each of two or more member states. See consulting with your workers
1 July 2011	Bribery Act	Requires organisations to take active steps to prevent bribery. Introduces general offences of offering or receiving bribes; bribing a foreign public official, and failing to prevent a bribe being paid for or on an organisation's behalf. See: Business gifts and hospitality
1 October 2011	Statutory payments	Increases to the National Minimum Wage See: key statistics
1 October 2011	Agency Workers Regulations	Give agency workers the right to the same pay and conditions after 12 weeks' employment in the same role and with the same hirer. See agency workers
30 December 2011	The Accession (Immigration and Worker Authorisation) (Amendment) Regulations 2011	Continue the restriction on Bulgarian and Romanian workers who are free to come to the UK, but are only able to work here if they hold a valid accession worker authorisation document or if they are exempt from authorisation. See checking the right to work in the UK

For information on previous years' legislation: 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006

We also offer a guide to recent and proposed legislation in Northern Ireland .