Policy hub
Lives – The Future of Work, Health and Disability (https://bit.ly/2Kug3CO) that government wants to see a reformed statutory sick pay (SSP) system “which supports more flexible working…to help support phased returns to work including spacing out working days during a return to work, managing a long-term health condition, or recovering from illness”. In advance of a consultation to be launched later in the year, we published a survey to gather early thoughts and opinion around the cost, the impact of change and the support that would be needed to implement change. Of those who responded, 89% offer both SSP and occupational sick pay (OSP); and as part of SSP or OSP, after sick leave, 86% offer employees an initial return to work on altered hours. There are several barriers identified that would need to be overcome in order to implement flexibility into sickness absence schemes. These include current SSP legislation, software adaptation, process change, cost and educating all relevant parties about a change – payroll, human resources, managers, employees. Comments from respondents included: ● “The amount of education around any change in returning from or alteration to SSP/sick leave would be huge!” ● “We would need some considerable lead time if legislation was to change (as would software providers) – this could not be a last-minute change.” ● “Reinstate some form of employer recovery.” ● “The three waiting days should be abolished, it makes calculating SSP, linked sickness etc much more complicated to calculate than it needs to be.” ● “Change SSP legislation to incorporate payment for phased returns.” The responses to cost for system changes ranged from zero to £100,000. Modern working practices In July 2017, the Good work: the Taylor review of modern working practices (https://bit.ly/2udwhLx) was published, which included 53 recommendations. It considered a range of issues, including the implications of new forms of work, the rise of digital platforms and the impact of new working methods on employee rights, responsibilities, freedoms and obligations. In February 2018, the government published its response (https://bit.
ly/2Ebc528) to the recommendations, which was accompanied by the launch of four consultations. The policy team has been gathering opinions and evidence from the payroll profession and other stakeholders through a series of surveys and roundtable discussions to inform our responses to these consultations, summarised as follows.
right to request a more predictable and stable contract m strengthen the ‘worker voice’ – to examine the effectiveness of the Information and Consultation Regulations in improving employee engagement in the rights – This consultation (https://bit. ly/2nJWNXZ) sets out the government’s intention to enforce a wider range of basic employment rights on behalf of vulnerable workers, and: m seeks evidence on the extent of the problem faced by low-paid workers in accessing sick pay and holiday pay to help target enforcement efforts m sets out the plans to simplify the enforcement process for employment tribunal awards m outlines the intention to introduce a naming scheme for unpaid employment tribunal awards m takes forward the recommendations that employment tribunal judges should be obliged to consider stronger punishments for employers who ignore previous tribunal judgments m seeks views on how best to implement these measures. l Employment status – This significant consultation (https://bit.ly/2nTDhb5) paper examines an area that is complex in nature and application and looks to pick up on recommendations, including: m there should be a clearer outline of the tests for employment status, setting out the key principles in primary legislation, and using secondary legislation and guidance to provide more detail m the current three-tier approach to employment status should stay as it remains relevant in the modern labour market, but renaming as ‘dependent contractors’ the category of people who are eligible for worker rights but are not employees m in developing the test for the new dependent contractor status, ‘control’ should be of greater importance, with less emphasis placed on the requirement to perform work personally and a renewed effort should be made to align the employment status framework with the tax status. All CIPP current surveys and consultation responses are accessible workplace and more generally l Enforcement of employment
...should be a clearer outline of the tests for employment status...
● Agency workers – This consultation (https://bit.ly/2nOpdjy) looks at proposals to improve employment rights for agency workers, including to: m amend legislation to improve the transparency of information which must be provided to work seekers both in terms of rates of pay and those responsible for paying them m consider whether the remit of the Employment Agency Standards (EAS) ought to be extended to cover policing umbrella companies and other intermediaries in the supply chain m repeal the legislation that allows work seekers to opt out of equal pay entitlements (the Swedish Derogation) m consider extending the remit of EAS to include compliance with the Agency Worker Regulations 2010. l Increasing transparency in the labour market – This consultation (https://bit.ly/2E7tn0i) looks at five key recommendations: m a payslip for all workers – to extend the right to a written statement to ‘dependent contractors’ as well as employees m continuous service extension and clarity – the break in service period for continuous service should be extended beyond one week m holiday pay – increasing awareness of holiday pay entitlements, changing the reference period by extending from 12 to 52 weeks and ensuring atypical workers receive their holiday pay entitlement m right to request – all workers should have more choice, where possible, in how and when they work including having a
under My CIPP / Policy Hub / Consultations on cipp.org.uk . n
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 41 | June 2018
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