April 2020: Employment law changes

This April, employers must be ready for changes to the right to written statements of terms and conditions, the introduction of parental bereavement leave and pay, and changes to the law on calculating holiday pay for workers with irregular hours, all of which take effect on 6 April.

There are also the usual increases to the national minimum and living wage rates, which increased on 1 April. Statutory maternity pay, paternity pay, adoption pay and shared parental leave pay all increase on 5 April. Statutory sick pay and redundancy payments will also increase on 6 April.

From 6 April, the ability for employers to pay agency workers less than their own workers in certain circumstances, also known as the "Swedish derogation", is abolished. Employers must ensure, therefore, that they pay agency workers who have completed the 12-week qualifying period equally to other directly recruited employees.

Meanwhile, although the Government has suspended enforcement of the gender pay gap reporting deadlines for 2020 in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, many employers will have already prepared the data for their third gender pay gap report since the reporting requirements came into force in April 2017. Employers are urged to publish their reports once the coronavirus outbreak has passed.

Finally, the Government has confirmed that reforms to IR35 tax rules, that were due to take effect for employers in the private sector from 6 April 2020, will be delayed until 6 April 2021.

We round up a selection of our updated resources to help employers deal with the April 2020 employment law changes.

Changes to written statements of terms and conditions

Parental bereavement leave and pay

Holiday pay for workers with irregular hours

National minimum wage

Statutory maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental pay

Statutory sick pay

Statutory redundancy pay

Agency workers and pay

Gender pay gap reporting