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HR & EMPLOYMENT LAW Jackie Le Poidevin, Editor-in-Chief, HR Adviser |
Carer’s Leave: Is the Legislation in Force or Not?
In the last Ask the Experts Update, I said I would look next time at some of the Government’s other planned changes to holiday entitlement and pay. However, there’s been a lot of discussion this week about the Carer’s Leave Act 2023 having apparently and unexpectedly come into force on 4 December. So I’m going to look here at whether this is in fact the case and I’ll return to holiday entitlement at a future date.
What’s Going On?
The Carer’s Leave Act received Royal Assent on 24 May this year. However, the Government said the Act would only come into effect once it had introduced separate regulations setting out the details of how the new right would work.
There was no timetable for this – the Government just said it would introduce the regulations ‘in due course’. Most new employment legislation comes into force each April, so April 2024 was expected to be the earliest the Act would take effect.
On 1 December, commencement regulations for the Carer’s Leave Act were passed, which appeared to show that the Act was coming into force on 4 December 2023. This prompted a flurry of announcements that employees now have the right to a week’s leave each year to care for, or arrange care for, a dependant with a long-term care need.
However, the regulations didn’t include any of the promised details on how carer’s leave will operate in practice. It now transpires that they merely put the right to carer’s leave on the statute book but that right still isn’t ‘live’. We still need additional regulations to implement the provisions.
What Do You Need to Do Now?
If an employee asks to take carer’s leave and says they believe they now have this right, you can explain that this isn’t in fact the case yet.
Although you should watch this space, the consensus is that the Act will now come into force in April – or possibly earlier in the event of a Spring general election. You should therefore take these 3 actions:
- Start to educate yourself and managers in the Act’s provisions. Although we’re waiting for the regulations, there’s a lot that we already know (see box below).
- Encourage managers to get to know their team, so they can get a feel for their responsibilities outside work and how many requests they might get.
- Be ready to update your employee handbook or leave policies once the regulations are published.
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Carer’s Leave at a Glance · Eligible employees (not workers) will be entitled to take 1 week’s leave in any 12-month period to care for, or arrange care for, a dependant with a long-term care need. · This will be a day 1 right. · The leave can be taken in a single block or as single days or half days. · A dependant means someone who reasonably relies on the employee for care. A long-term care need means having a physical or mental illness or an injury that requires (or is likely to require) care for more than 3 months, or a disability, or issues related to old age. There are also provisions on specific cases such as terminal illness. · Employees will be able to take leave to provide personal or practical support, such as: – Accompanying their dependant to medical or other appointments. – Helping with official or financial matters. – Providing personal care, including when the person’s primary unpaid carer is taking a respite break. · Employees won’t need to provide evidence of how they will be using the leave or who they will be using it for. The Government’s view is that the unpaid nature of carer’s leave will reduce the risk of abuse. · Employees will have to give notice that they wish to take leave of twice the length of the time requested plus 1 day. You will be able to give a counter-notice to postpone the leave if you consider it would unduly disrupt the operation of your business. However, you can’t refuse the leave entirely. · Employees will be able to bring an employment tribunal claim if you unreasonably postpone, or prevent or attempt to prevent them from taking, carer’s leave.
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HEALTH & SAFETY Emma Lampka, Editorial Board Member, Health & Safety Adviser and Risk Assessment & Compliance |
6 Ways to Prepare Your Business for Winter
Slip and trip accidents increase during the autumn and winter season. Although not exclusively occurring during the winter months, slips, trips and falls injuries cost the UK approaching 1 billion pounds per year and, according to the Health and Safety Executive statistics for 2022/23, make up 32% of non-fatal injuries to employees.
There are a number of reasons why slip and trip accidents increase during these seasons, such as there being less daylight, leaves falling onto paths and becoming wet and slippery and cold weather spells causing ice and snow to build up on walkways, to name but a few.
Read on for 6 things you can do to prepare your business for the winter.
- Review Your Health and Safety Measures
Make sure your business is a safe place for people to work, shop or visit. Whether you’re a public-facing high street retailer, a factory with a growing workforce or your clients are visiting your offices, the winter months will present new hazards and you will need to change the arrangements that to implement such as checking that lighting is sufficient to safely navigate around your business site, internally and externally, or ensuring pathways outside are clear of leaves, ice and snow.
- Review Your Workplace Risk Assessments
Check that winter hazards have been identified and that the risks have been assessed. Ensure that suitable control measures have been implemented, for example, someone regularly monitoring outdoor temperatures to ensure that gritting is required, if necessary, or that the heating system is serviced annually to ensure that when you need it, it is working.
Other questions to consider include, does your risk assessment cover driving for work in inclement weather conditions? Are your footpaths to the entry of the building sloped and will they need attention to remove ice and snow or additional gritting?
- Fit an Indoor and Outdoor Thermometer
This will help you assess the risk of cold, snow and ice and whether outdoor areas should be gritted. The workplace regulations approved code of practice states that temperatures inside the workplace should be reasonable and advise that 16°C should be achieved unless the work involves rigorous physical effort.
- Review Your Lighting
Ensure there is enough lighting around your workplace for you and your workers to be able to see and avoid hazards that might be on the ground.
- Clear Roadways and Footpaths
Fallen leaves that become wet or have started to decay can create slip risks in two ways: 1) they can hide any hazards that may be on the path, and 2) they create a slip risk in themselves. Put in place procedures for removing leaves at regular intervals.
For ice and snow, monitor your thermometer and check the weather forecast. Put a procedure in place to prevent an icy surface forming and/or keep pedestrians off the slippery surfaces. Use grit or salt on areas prone to be slippery in frosty or icy conditions, or divert pedestrians to less slippery walkways and barrier off existing ones
- Check Your Business Continuity Plan
The winter months can bring extreme weather with storms and showers, sometimes increasing the risk of flooding or power cuts, along with significant road delays which may affect people getting to work, supplies being able to reach your facility and the ability to ship finished goods to your customers. Your business continuity plan should look at the safety of workers along with other potential risks to your organisation’s normal operations.
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PAYROLL Sarah Bradford, Editor-in-Chief, Pay & Benefits Adviser |
Company Cars: Latest Advisory Fuel Rates Published
HMRC publish fuel-only rates, known as the advisory fuel rates. The rates are updated quarterly and the rates applying from 1 December 2023 are now available. We go through the key points that you need to know.
The rates are only relevant where an employee has a company car. You can use the rates where you reimburse an employee for business travel in their company car and the employee has initially met the fuel costs, or where an employee needs to repay you for the cost of fuel used for private travel to prevent a fuel benefit charge arising.
Reimbursing Employees for Business Travel in a Company Car
If you use the advisory fuel rates to reimburse an employee for the costs that they incur in undertaking business travel in their company car, no tax charge will arise – the advisory rate for the car is that maximum amount that can be paid tax-free unless you can show the actual costs are higher.
Use of the advisory fuel rates is not compulsory and if the cars that your employees use are more fuel efficient than the advisory rates or the actual cost incurred by the employee in respect of business travel exceeds that at the advisory rate, you can, instead, use your own rates.
However, if the amount that you pay exceeds the amount that would be payable using the advisory rates, unless you are able to demonstrate that you have done no more than reimbursed the actual cost of business travel, a tax charge will arise to the extent that the amount paid exceeds the amount due at the relevant advisory rate. Class 1 National Insurance is also due on the excess.
Repaying the Cost of Private Travel
Unless the employee has an electric company car, a separate fuel benefit charge will arise if you provide any fuel for private travel in the company car. The fuel benefit charge is expensive and rarely worthwhile. To prevent the charge from arising, the employee can repay the cost of fuel used for private journeys. This can be done using the relevant advisory fuel rate. It is important that all private fuel is reimbursed if the charge is to be avoided.
The employee must make good the cost of all fuel for private travel by 6 July following the end of the tax year if the ‘making good’ is to be effective in cancelling out the tax charge.
Rates from 1 December 2023
The advisory fuel rates applying from 1 December 2023 are shown below.
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Engine Size |
Petrol: Rate per Mile |
LPG: Rate per Mile |
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1,400 cc or less |
14 pence |
10 pence |
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1,401cc to 2,000 cc |
16 pence |
12 pence |
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Over 2,000 cc |
26 pence |
18 pence |
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Engine Size |
Diesel: Rate per Mile |
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1,600cc or less |
13 pence |
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1,601cc to 2,000 cc |
15 pence |
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Over 2,000 cc |
20 pence |
Although there is no fuel benefit charge if you provide electricity for private journeys in an electric company car or meet the cost of the electricity for such journeys, an advisory fuel rate of 9p per mile applies for electric cars, which can be used to reimburse employees where they meet the cost of business travel in their electric company car.
If you use the advisory fuel rates to reimburse business travel costs, check you are using the updated rates.