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Main points from today Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, returned from self-isolation to lead the briefing today. 33,718 confirmed cases, 12,949 admitted to hospital, 2,921 deaths with 569 new deaths. Rate of infection is doubling every 3 to 4 days. 45 million pieces of PPE delivered yesterday. £300 million announced for community pharmacies. £13.4 billion of … Read more

Main points from today Cabinet Minister, Michael Gove announced that 1000’s of new ventilators are being manufactured in the UK and will be delivered to the NHS next week. RAF helicopters are standing by to assist the NHS. NHS Medical Director, Stephen Powis, said it was ‘early days’ but there had been a plateau in … Read more

These details are from a FAQ document released by Dr Luke Evans MP for Bosworth, who is a backbench MP.  This is NOT an official government document but gives more detail about what to expect. Any large or small employer can apply to put workers on temporary leave or “furloughed” status. The government will then … Read more

Agency Workers The basic position is that under the Agency Work Regulations 2010, after 12 weeks, an Agency worker is entitled to “the same basic working and employment conditions” as an employee.  Pay is included for these purposes but occupational sick pay is excluded.  If the Agency worker is off sick (and this would include … Read more

The government has released new guidance on calculating statutory holiday pay for workers without fixed hours or pay in anticipation of changes coming into effect on 6th April 2020. The guidance is focussed on the legal minimum entitlement of 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday. Many individuals will have contracts entitling them to additional paid holiday beyond … Read more

In Uddin v London Borough of Ealing UKEAT/0165/19, the EAT decided that an employee had been unfairly dismissed when the investigating officer failed to inform the dismissing manager that the alleged victim of a sexual assault by the employee had withdrawn her complaint to the police. Background The dismissal of an employee for a reason … Read more

What is continuous employment? Continuous employment is a statutory concept. It is a term used to describe the length of unbroken time that an employee has worked. It can consist of the time that an employee worked for a single employer or (in some cases) can include work done for a previous employer. The period … Read more

Parents who suffer the devastating loss of a child will be entitled to 2 weeks’ statutory leave, Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom announced on 23rd January 2020. The Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay Regulations, which will be known as Jack’s Law in memory of Jack Herd whose mother Lucy campaigned tirelessly on the issue will come … Read more

If an employee is going to be employed for more than one month they are entitled to a written statement of certain terms of their employment.  This is commonly known as a Section 1 Statement as the requirements are contained in Section 1 of The Employment Rights Act 1996 and the requirements can be incorporated … Read more

The Supreme Court has decided that an employee had been automatically unfairly dismissed as a result of protected disclosures even though the person who made the decision to dismiss her was unaware of the protected disclosures. Usually it is accepted that the reasons given by the appointed decision-maker will be the reasons for the dismissal. … Read more