The Queen’s Speech has confirmed several anticipated changes for parental leave and employment law.
The Government intends to offer parents more flexibility over care arrangements, while early reconciliation measures through Acas in employment disputes were also backed...
Additional Paternity Leave “has not been a success” according to coaching company Talking Talent.
Chris Parke, CEO of the firm, believes take-up is disappointingly low after finding just two out of 300 participants in its programme for new fathers planned to use...
Pauline McArdle considers some of the most significant employment law changes affecting payroll and benefits in 2011.
Despite Government attempts to reduce its impact on business, employment law has continued to raise challenges for employers.
Abolition of default retirement age
When age discrimination regulations were introduced in 2006, there was an exception for retirement at age 65, the so-...
Proposals to scale back maternity and paternity initiatives have been met with strong opposition from the Equalities Minister.
Lynne Featherstone MP has attacked a report which is understood to suggest watering down the potential changes to the family-friendly policy.
She...
Only one in 10 fathers plan to take more time off than the two weeks’ statutory allowance, due to the loss in earnings.
New fathers are not taking advantage of Additional Statutory Paternity Pay (ASPP)and leave arrangements, which came into force in April. ASPP offers less than a...
Catherine Hey discusses the proposals outlined in a new Government consultation.
The Government consultation, Modern Workplaces, has proposed a new system of shared parental leave, extending flexible working, mandatory equal pay audits and changing the Working Time Regulations (WTR).
Flexible parental leave
The consultation seeks views on proposals for a system...
The Government is continuing to reiterate its opposition against the maternity plans put forward by the European Parliament.
Chris Grayling, Employment Minister, attended a meeting for the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council to hear an update on the proposals....
A new system of flexible parental leave has been put forward in a consultation document.
The Government has proposed that following the early weeks of maternity and paternity leave parents should be able to share leave allowances between them. Ministers believe that the current...
Employers are concerned about the impact of new employment law legislation and believe that it will curb economic growth.
More than two-thirds of employers surveyed by law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer fear that job creation will be hampered over the next 12 months because of new...
Have your say - your views are important
Paternity leave headache
New paternity laws came into effect in April 2011, which allow fathers to take up to 26 weeks’ Additional Statutory Paternity Leave (ASPL).
The impact of these changes on small businesses is that they are being strangled by red tape and politically...
Linda Pullan explains the statutory leave entitlements for parents.
With the introduction of Additional Statutory Paternity Pay and Leave (ASPP and ASPL) for employees whose babies are due from 3 April 2011 (or children matched for adoption), parents are provided with a wide range of statutory rights to take leave to care for their children.
The leave...
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has submitted a statement urging the European Commission to reject plans to legislate for the extension of paternity leave.
The European Union (EU) is currently in the process of considering various legislative and non-legislative...
Alex Blyth considers the impact on UK businesses of plans to extend paternity leave.
On 17 January Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced that the Coalition will press ahead with Labour’s plans to extend paternity leave. Some had been concerned that the Government might bow to pressure and water down the legislation which comes into force in April 2011. However, Clegg...
Further plans to radically change paternity leave have been proposed by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
A Government-sponsored report from Demos has suggested that family policy should be altered to give fathers more encouragement to take parental leave on a “use it or lose it...
Following on from last month’s article on tax year end processes, this month we are going to take a look at checklists and clear-down procedures in readiness for the tax year ahead.
Before we start to examine finalising the tax year, you need to decide when the final payroll run will be for 2010/11 and whether or not you will need to arrange for an adjustment run to take care of any last-minute anomalies.
Quality Standard rules
HM Revenue & Customs...
