Employment law: 2024 round up and what to expect in 2025

During 2024 there were several announcements of changes which will affect employers and employees. This article aims to summarise the key developments from 2024 and what to expect in 2025.

Round up of key employment law changes from 2024


Flexible working
  •  The right to request flexible working is a day one right.
  • Employees can make 2 requests in a 12-month period.
  • Employer must consult with an employee before refusing a request.
  • Decision has to be made in 2 months.
Carer’s leave
  • One week of unpaid leave in any rolling 12-month period.
  • This is a day one right.

Paternity leave
  • Leave can be taken in 2 separate blocks.
  • Leave may be taken at any time in first year of birth or adoption.
  • Employees to give 28 days’ notice (or 7 days of being matched in cases of adoption).
Protection from redundancy

 
  • Pregnant employees and those returning from long-term family leave have the right in a redundancy situation to be offered suitable alternative vacancy, where available, if placed at risk.
Duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace
  • Employers are to take proactive, reasonable steps to safeguard workers from sexual harassment by staff and third parties.
  • To comply with the new standard, employers should have in place a sexual harassment policy, undertake a risk assessment and provide training, as a minimum.

It is important that employers have updated their policies and processes to incorporate these changes. If you require any support with this, please get in contact using the form below.

Changes to be introduced early 2025


National Minimum and Living Wage 		 From April:

  • National Living Wage increases to £12.21 an hour.
  • National Minimum wage increases to £10 an hour.

Statutory payments  		 From April:

  • Statutory sick pay increases to £118.75 per week.
  • Statutory maternity pay, maternity allowance, statutory adoption pay, statutory paternity pay, statutory shared parental pay and statutory parental bereavement pay increases to £187.18 per week.
Neonatal care leave and pay

 
  • Statutory neonatal leave and pay for up to 12 weeks for parents of babies requiring neonatal care, which must be taken within 68 weeks of birth.
  • It is expected to come into force in April 2025, although this date has not been confirmed.

 

On the horizon


Equality (Race and Disability) Bill
  • Will enshrine in law the full right to equal pay for ethnic minorities and disabled people.
  • Introduce a mandatory ethnicity and disability pay reporting for employers with 250 or more employees.
Employment Rights Bill
  • Provision for 28 wide ranging employment law reforms.

These are both subject to consultation. A brief overview of these expected changes can be found in our ‘Employment Law: What we are expecting in 2024’ blog.

As more details are released following the consultation process, we will provide an update.

Price Bailey’s Employment Law team have extensive experience in supporting businesses throughout key developments that impact both employers and employees. If you have any questions on these changes or require support with updating your policies, please fill in the form below and a member of the team will contact you shortly.

We always recommend that you seek advice from a suitably qualified adviser before taking any action. The information in this article only serves as a guide and no responsibility for loss occasioned by any person acting or refraining from action as a result of this material can be accepted by the authors or the firm.

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